ON  I A 

BY-  ALEXANDER-  CRAIG 


IONIA. 


I  AM  GLAD  TO  MEET  MY  FATHER'S  FRIEND." — Page  71. 


IONIA; 


LAND  OF  WISE  MEN  AND 
FAIR  WOMEN 


BY 

ALEXANDER  CRAIG 


ILLUSTRATIONS  AND  COVER  DESIGN  BY 

J.  C.  IvEYENDECKER 


COPYRIGHT,  1898,  BY 
ALEXANDER  CRAIG. 


9?  7? 


DEDICATED 

TO 

NAHUM    EDWARD   JENNISON 
In  acknowledgment  of 

valued  counsel  and  encouragement. 


CONTENTS. 


Chapter  Pase 

I.     An  English  Village 7 

II.     Darkest   London 27 

III.  A  Visitor  from  Another  World 42 

IV.  A  Far  Country 70 

V.     Amongst  New  Friends 98 

VI.     A  Model  City 127 

VII.     A  Day  of  Rest 150 

VIII.     The  Ionian  Games 164 

IX.     Timoleon,  the  Liberator 183 

X.     Timoleon,  the  Legislator 200 

XL     The  Schools  of  lolkos 222 

XII.     A  Modern  Crcesus 244 

XIII.  Last  Days  in  Ionia 258 

XIV.  Conclusion  .                                  277 


ILLUSTRATIONS. 


Page 

"I  AM   GLAD  TO  MEKT  MY  FATHER'S  FRIEND," 71 

"PRESENTLY  WE  FLEW  PAST  WHAT  SEEMED  A  CITY  OF  PALACES/'       -  85 

''BUT  WE  WERE  RAPIDLY  APPROACHING  THE  ACROPOLIS  ITSELF,"    -  104 

REQUESTED  DAPHNE  TO  SING  THE  SONG  OF  NIOBE,    ...               -  163 

THE    MOHAMMEDAN    ARMY    WAS   CAUGHT    IN    THE   CURRENT    AND 

DESTROYED,        ..-......._.  197 

"BUT   I   HAD   A   LARGE   STONE   READY," 270 


IONIA. 


CHAPTER  I. 
AN  ENGLISH  VILLAGE. 

The  village  of  Chingford,  in  Surrey,  is  one  of  the  pret 
tiest  in  all  England.  Situated  in  a  rich  agricultural  dis 
trict,  three  miles  from  the  nearest  railway  station,  it  is 
undisturbed  by  the  bustle  of  industrial  and  commercial 
life,  but  its  little  community  of  five  hundred  souls  pass 
their  lives  in  such  peace  and  contentment  as  seldom  falls 
to  the  lot  of  those  living  in  more  enterprising  and  ambi 
tious  places.  Its  rows  of  handsome  cottages,  surrounded 
by  well-kept  gardens,  betoken  a  standard  of  comfort  and 
taste  much  superior  to  the  ordinary  level  of  rustic  exist 
ence.  It  boasts  a  fine  old  church  with  ivy-covered  walls, 
and  has  two  or  three  modern  edifices  which  are  its  special 
pride.  One  of  these  is  the  schoolhouse,  built  of  stone 
from  the  designs  of  a  celebrated  London  architect;  an 
other  is  Wolverton  Hall,  a  two-story  building  of  brick, 
faced  with  stone,  dedicated  to  the  instruction  and  enter 
tainment  of  the  people.  It  contains  a  library  and  reading 
room  on  the  ground  floor,  while  the  second  forms  a  hand 
some  hall  for  lectures,  concerts  and  other  meetings.  Here 
the  village  literary  society  assembles  on  Saturday  even 
ings  and  discusses  high  themes  of  state  and  philosophy, 
and  although  the  provincial  accent  of  some  of  the  speak- 


8  IONIA. 

ers  might  provoke  a  smile  from  the  undergraduates  of 
Oxford  or  Cambridge,  it  is  wonderful  how  the  faculty  of 
expression  has  been  developed  amongst  these  simple  vil 
lagers.  Some  of  the  younger  men  prove  themselves  able 
to  take  an  intelligent  grasp  of  practical  questions  and  their 
discussions  are  at  least  a  great  advance  upon  the  pot 
house  talk  of  their  forefathers.  They  are  well  known  to 
each  other,  and  divided  in  friendly  rivalry  into  various 
groups;  the  interest  they  take  in  the  subjects  discussed 
and  the  delight  of  victory  to  the  side  which  wins  most 
votes  at  the  end  of  a  debate,  is  sufficient  to  furnish  them 
food  for  thought  and  entertainment  during  the  whole  of 
the  following  week.  Without  the  use  of  the  library  the 
literary  society  never  could  have  had  an  existence,  and  the 
stimulus  which  the  latter  gives  to  mental  exertion  is  seen 
in  the  large  proportion  of  readers  of  solid  works  on  his 
tory,  biography,  political  economy  and  social  science 
which  are  to  be  found  amongst  these  humble  villagers. 
The  reading  room  is  well  stocked  with  the  best  weeklies, 
monthly  magazines  and  reviews,  and  not  an  evening 
passes  but  its  tables  are  surrounded  by  earnest  students  of 
both  sexes,  young  and  old  alike.  This  is  more  particu 
larly  the  case,  of  course,  during  the  long  winter  evenings. 
In  summer  there  are  out-door  games  on  the  village  com 
mon  for  the  boys  and  young  men,  while  beyond  the  brook 
at  the  lower  end  of  the  village  is  a  beautiful  park  with 
lawn  and  shade  trees,  bowling  greens  and  croquet 
grounds  where  the  elder  and  less  active  of  the  people  take 
their  ease  and  recreation. 

Nearly  in  the  center  of  the  village  is  the  public  laundry, 
free  to  all  the  families  living  in  the  place,  and  with  a  sep 
arate  room  fitted  up  with  swings  and  cots  for  babies  so 
that  the  women  may  bring  their  infants  with  them  and 
not  be  hindered  in  their  work.  The  laundry  is  also  the 


AN  ENGLISH  VILLAGE.  9 

public  school  of  cookery,  where,  at  the  end  of  the  week, 
when  the  family  washings  are  all  completed  and  out  of 
the  way,  practical  lessons  in  plain  cooking  are  given  free 
of  cost  to  all  who  choose  to  come,  and  the  resulting 
dishes  furnish  a  weekly  dinner  or  supper  to  the  families  of 
the  pupils  in  rotation.  At  the  opposite  end  of  the  village 
from  the  park  is  situated  the  parish  church,  and  hard  by 
is  the  rectory  where  the  good  old  parson,  Dr.  Wolverton, 
has  lived  respected  and  admired  by  the  whole  community 
for  nearly  fifty  years.  Beyond  the  rectory  is  the  Grange,  a 
property  of  some  fifty  acres  enclosed  by  high  brick  walls 
and  containing  a  wood  of  fine  beech  trees  and  a  spacious 
park  dotted  with  rare  old  oaks,  some  of  which  began  to 
grow  in  the  time  of  the  Tudors.  A  wide  driveway  winds 
through  grove  and  park  up  to  a  handsome  mansion  dat 
ing  from  the  reign  of  Queen  Anne,  but  recently  renovated 
and  fitted  up  inside  with  all  the  devices  which  modern 
ideas  of  comfort  demand.  Here  resides  the  lady  bounti 
ful  of  the  parish,  Mrs.  Helen  Musgrave,  daughter  of  the 
old  rector.  She  has  been  for  many  years  a  widow,  and  I 
am  her  only  son. 

My  father,  David  Musgrave,  was  the  younger  son  of  a 
neighboring  squire,  and  having  but  a  younger  son's  por 
tion,  he  had  been  placed  by  his  father  in  a  London  bank 
ing  house,  of  which  he  became  the  head  before  he  was 
thirty-five  years  old.  Retiring  at  fifty  with  a  large  for 
tune,  he  had  purchased  the  Grange  and  married  the  rec 
tor's  daughter,  expecting  to  spend  many  years  amongst 
the  scenes  of  his  youth,  enjoying  the  wealth  which  the 
best  part  of  his  life  had  been  spent  in  accumulating. 

But  man  proposes  and  God  disposes.  My  father  had 
no  sooner  settled  down  to  a  life  of  ease  and  enjoyment 
than  his  health  began  to  give  way.  He  had  never  spared 
himself  in  business,  working  early  and  late  to  raise  him- 


10  IONIA. 

self  to  the  top  of  the  ladder,  and  he  succeeded,  but  his 
success  cost  him  dearly.  He  had  been  possessed  origin 
ally  of  a  powerful  physique,  and  in  the  pursuit  of  business 
scarcely  ever  allowed  himself  a  holiday  or  any  kind  of 
recreation,  and  nature  took  her  usual  revenge.  Over 
work  had  worn  him  out,  and  when  at  last  he  sought  to 
recover  health  and  energy  by  repose  and  a  return  to  his 
native  air,  it  was  too  late.  No  medical  skill  could  help 
him,  and  he  died  about  four  years  after  his  marriage,  and 
when  I  was  too  young  to  remember  him. 

With  the  exception  of  a  few  bequests  to  various  rela 
tives  all  the  wealth  which  he  had  amassed  fell  to  be  di 
vided  between  his  wife  and  child.  My  mother  became 
sole  owner  of  the  Grange,  with  other  property  to  the  value 
of  about  seven  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  pounds,  while 
a  like  amount  fell  to  my  share,  and  as  it  was  invested  in 
the  best  securities  and  was  to  be  allowed  to  accumulate 
until  I  came  of  age,  it  was  no  ordinary  fortune  that  await 
ed  me.  Although  my  mother  was  only  four  and  twenty 
at  her  husband's  death,  and  very  attractive  in  person  and 
disposition,  my  father  made  no  consideration  as  to  re 
marriage  in  his  will,  and  it  was  expected  by  all  friends  and 
neighbors  that  after  a  year  or  two  of  mourning  she  would 
make  some  other  man  happy  in  the  possession  of  her 
hand  and  fortune,  and  after  a  time  many  a  scion  of  the 
county  families  paid  court  to  her,  but  she  disappointed 
them  all.  She  had  made  up  her  mind  that  her  life  was  to 
be  devoted  to  the  bringing  up  of  her  son  and  to  the 
improvement  and  happiness  of  the  villagers  amongst 
whom  she  had  been  born. 

Chingford  was  then  a  very  different  place  from  what  it 
afterwards  became.  The  men  were  mostly  agricultural 
laborers,  whose  wages  were  but  scanty  at  the  best,  and  a 
large  proportion  of  them  was  spent  at  the  two  pot-houses 


AN  ENGLISH  VILLAGE.  11 

which  were  the  great  curse  of  the  village.  The  dwelling 
houses  were  in  the  last  stages  of  dilapidation  and  decay; 
the  women  were  slatternly  and  unkempt  and  the  children 
for  the  most  part  ragged  and  vicious,  given  to  robbing  the 
henroosts  and  orchards  of  the  neighboring  farmers.  The 
rector  had  labored  earnestly  amongst  them,  and  had  man 
aged  to  induce  a  minority  of  the  elders  to  attend  church 
regularly  on  Sundays  and  their  children  to  come  to  Sun 
day  school,  but  as  regards  the  majority  he  was  in  despair, 
and  he  often  compared  his  parish  to  Nazareth,  out  of 
which  nothing  good  could  be  expected  to  come. 

It  was  therefore  a  difficult  task  which  his  daughter  un 
dertook  when  she  resolved  to  make  Chingford  a  model  of 
industry  and  thrift,  of  cleanliness  and  respectability,  but 
she  set  about  the  work  with  all  the  resolute  determination 
of  a  high-souled  Christian  woman.  She  first  bought  up  the 
two  alehouses  and  demolished  them,  building  a  couple 
of  neat  cottages  in  their  place.  Next  she  built  the  school- 
house  and  installed  an  energetic  young  man  as  teacher, 
with  a  couple  of  young  lady  assistants.  There  were  plenty 
of  scholars,  for  the  place  swarmed  with  children,  and 
their  mothers  were  glad  to  get  them  out  of  their  way  for 
the  best  part  of  the  day.  Evening  classes  were  estab 
lished  for  adults,  which  at  first  were  rather  thinly  attend 
ed,  but  when  the  lady  of  the  Grange  went  round  to  the 
cottages  and  personally  entreated  the  attendance  of  the 
people  who  had  grown  up  without  schooling,  none  dared 
refuse  the  opportunity  offered,  and  the  teachers  soon  had 
their  hands  full.  Very  substantial  prizes  were  offered  to 
those  heads  of  families  who  should  make  most  progress 
in  their  studies.  My  mother  announced  that  she  had 
bought  twenty  acres  of  land  adjoining  the  village  on  the 
west,  which  was  to  become  the  public  common,  with  free 
grazing  for  animals  owned  by  the  people,  and  that  at  the 


12  IONIA. 

end  of  the  winter  the  twelve  most  proficient  amongst  the 
fathers  or  mothers  who  attended  the  night  school  should 
each  be  presented  with  a  fine  milch  cow.  To  the  children 
also  many  prizes  were  given  for  attendance  and  proficien 
cy  in  their  studies,  which  were  of  a  more  useful  character 
than  those  usually  given  elsewhere,  consisting  of  articles 
of  clothing,  boots  and  shoes,  hats  and  caps  for  the  girls 
and  boys,  with  occasionally  books  for  those  who  stood 
least  in  need  of  these  necessaries. 

A  few  months  made  a  wonderful  change.  The  sup 
pression  of  the  drinking  places  alone  acted  as  a  stimulus 
to  respectability  and  self-respect.  The  men  kept  more 
steadily  at  their  work;  the  women  grew  ashamed  of  their 
untidy  habits  and  began  to  acquire  a  wholesome  desire 
for  decent  apparel  and  the  cottages  began  to  lose  their 
neglected  and  dirty  appearance. 

But  Mrs.  Musgrave  was  not  content  with  inducing  bet 
ter  habits  amongst  the  people:  she  determined  that  the 
village  itself  should  be  rebuilt  entirely  and  that  its  inhabi 
tants  should  be  in  possession  of  homes  which  they  could 
take  both  comfort  and  pride  in,  with  sufficient  ground  to 
each  for  both  kitchen  and  flower  gardens.  She  bought 
up  all  the  land,  with  the  buildings  standing  on  it,  and  en 
gaged  an  eminent  architect  to  make  plans  for  the  rebuild 
ing  of  the  whole  with  a  view  to  picturesque  general  effect, 
but  also  and  more  particularly  to  comfort  and  perfect 
sanitary  arrangements  in  each  individual  dwelling.  A 
competent  superintendent  was  put  in  charge  of  the  work 
of  construction,  but  the  labor  was  done  as  far  as  possible 
by  the  villagers  themselves,  so  that  they  should  have  the 
full  benefit  of  the  money  which  was  being  expended.  It 
was  a  work  of  time,  because  no  family  could  be  asked  to 
move  before  new  quarters  were  ready  for  them,  but  as 
fast  as  the  new  cottages  were  completed  they  were  occu- 


AN  ENGLISH  VILLAGE.  13 

pied,  and  the  ground  cleared  for  the  building  of  others; 
and  care  was  taken  to  give  the  most  industrious  and  de 
serving  families  first  choice,  in  order  that  they  might  set 
a  good  example  of  order  and  neatness  in  the  care  of  house 
and  garden.  In  about  two  years  Chingford  was  trans 
formed  from  an  assemblage  of  straggling  and  untidy  hov 
els  to  a  beautiful  village  of  handsome  cottages  which  ex 
cited  the  admiration  of  all  who  saw  it.  The  people  were  no 
less  changed,  and  had  become  worthy  in  appearance  and 
conduct  to  be  the  dwellers  in  such  an  ideal  place.  There 
were,  of  course,  exceptions,  men  who  could  not  live  with 
out  liquor  and  women  who  preferred  dirt  and  disorder  to 
cleanliness  and  comfort,  but  the  unreclaimable  ones  mi 
grated  to  other  parts  of  the  country  where  their  bad  hab 
its  would  be  less  conspicuous,  and  their  places  were  easily 
supplied  by  worthy  peasants  from  the  neighborhood. 

The  laying  out  of  the  village  park  and  the  erection  of 
Wolverton  Hall  followed  next,  with  various  other  im 
provements  which  furnished  work  for  two  or  three  years 
more.  My  mother  dreaded  the  time  when  all  these  under 
takings  should  be  completed,  for  there  had  been  evolved 
from  amongst  the  rude  laboring  people  of  Chingford 
quite  a  little  band  of  competent  mechanics,  for  whom  she 
feared  it  would  be  difficult  to  find  suitable  employment, 
but  the  difficulty  vanished  as  the  time  approached.  Some 
had  saved  up  money  enough  to  set  up  themselves  as  con 
tractors  and  builders  in  the  nearest  towns  and  villages, 
others  were  offered  good  places  by  the  architect  or  the 
superintendent,  and  those  that  remained  were  not  more 
than  sufficient  for  the  work  of  keeping  in  order  and  re 
pairing  the  village  itself  and  the  Grange  and  its  appur 
tenances. 

By  this  time  the  people  had  come  to  look  upon  my 
mother  as  a  kind  of  providence,  and  young  and  old  alike 


14:  IONIA. 

worshiped  her.  They  always  spoke  of  her  amongst  them 
selves  as  "Lady  Musgrave,"  and  although  she  reproved 
them  so  severely  for  doing  so  that  they  discontinued  it  in 
her  presence,  yet  they  could  not  understand  why  she  was 
not  more  entitled  to  be  called  "my  lady"  than  many  of  the 
titled  dames  of  the  county  who  could  not  be  compared  to 
her  either  in  point  of  wealth  or  character.  She  was  care 
ful  not  to  demoralize  them  by  giving  alms  to  those  who 
were  able  to  work,  but  the  old  people  of  the  parish  were 
never  allowed  to  go  to  the  workhouse,  and  if  a  poor  wo 
man  were  left  a  widow  with  a  family  of  children,  she  fur 
nished  help  in  various  ways  and  enabled  them  to  tide  over 
their  misfortune  until  the  children  were  old  enough  to 
work  for  themselves.  She  constantly  visited  the  sick  and 
furnished  medical  attendance  free  when  necessary,  as  well 
as  wine  and  other  luxuries  which  the  limited  means  of 
the  stricken  families  could  not  afford.  For  years  she  kept 
a  trained  nurse  constantly  at  the  Grange,  whose  business 
was  not  so  much  to  care  for  the  patients  as  to  teach  the 
women  of  the  village  how  to  do  it.  Amongst  the  early 
lectures  at  the  Hall  were  a  series  of  addresses  by  eminent 
physicians  on  the  preservation  of  health,  and  the  people 
manifested  such  interest  in  these  and  the  books  on  kin 
dred  subjects  with  which  the  library  was  well  furnished 
that  the  position  of  village  doctor  soon  became  almost  a 
sinecure. 

While  busy  with  these  schemes  for  the  reformation  of 
her  father's  parish,  my  mother  found  plenty  of  time  to 
attend  to  the  education  of  her  son.  From  the  time  that 
I  attained  the  age  of  six  until  my  eighteenth  year  I  stud 
ied  under  tutors  residing  under  our  own  roof  and  was 
hardly  ever  parted  from  my  mother  for  an  entire  day. 
Being  her  only  child  she  could  not  bear  the  idea  of  send 
ing  me  to  a  public  school,  but  in  order  that  I  should  have 


AN  ENGLISH  VILLAGE.  15 

the  advantage  of  studying  with  boys  of  my  own  age  she 
prevailed  on  my  uncle,  Sir  Philip  Musgrave,  who  re 
sided  about  five  miles  from  Chingford,  to  allow  two  of 
his  sons  to  be  educated  with  me.  A  carriage  was  sent 
for  them  every  Monday  morning  and  took  them  home  on 
Friday  afternoon,  so  that  for  the  greater  part  of  the  time 
they  lived  at  the  Grange,  and  their  schooling  cost  their 
father  nothing  at  all,  an  arrangement  which  suited  him 
very  well,  as  he  had  several  daughters  to  educate  and  his 
estates  were  very  much  encumbered. 

Of  the  two  boys  Philip  was  the  elder,  being  a  year 
older  than  myself,  and  John  about  a  year  younger.  They 
were  fine,  manly  fellows  and  we  were  very  great  friends 
in  the  main,  yet  like  all  other  boys  we  were  liable  to  fall 
out  and  fight  occasionally,  but  my  mother  treated  us  so 
impartially  that  our  juvenile  quarrels  never  lasted  long, 
and  the  good  feeling  between  the  families  was  never 
interfered  with  in  the  slightest  degree.  Our  teachers 
being  selected  with  great  care  and  with  absolute  disre 
gard  of  monetary  considerations,  we  made  good  head 
way  in  our  studies  from  the  start,  and  the  mental  equip 
ment  of  all  three  being  nearly  equal,  our  mutual  emula 
tion  was  of  great  service  to  us.  In  mathematics  John  was 
decidedly  first,  but  in  the  acquisition  of  languages  Philip 
and  I  showed  greater  facility.  We  made  rapid  progress 
in  Latin  and  Greek,  and  by  the  time  we  were  respectively 
fourteen  and  fifteen  years  old  we  could  both  read  and 
converse  in  French  and  German  with  ease.  In  history 
I  stood  first  and  never  tired  of  it,  my  memory  being  so 
tenacious  that  I  scarcely  ever  forgot  a  name  or  a  date 
which  I  took  the  trouble  to  fix  in  my  mind.  Most  of 
our  evenings  were  passed  with  my  mother  alone,  for  she 
did  not  care  for  society  in  general,  but  preferred  the 
company  of  her  boys.  We  sometimes  read  in  turn  to 


16  IONIA. 

her  and  sometimes  passed  the  hours  in  games  of  chess 
or  whist,  in  which  we  became  wonderfully  proficient. 
The  time  never  dragged  with  us,  but  I  enjoyed  those 
evenings  best  when,  at  the  end  of  the  week,  my  cousins 
had  gone  and  my  mother  and  I  were  together  by  our 
selves,  for  from  my  earliest  years  I  loved  her  passion 
ately  and  looked  up  to  her  as  superior  to  all  other  living 
beings.  It  was  a  great  delight  to  me  to  read  from  my 
favorite  authors  with  her  alone  for  audience,  or  talk  to 
her  about  my  studies  or  the  people  of  the  village,  or  listen 
to  her  when  she  played  or  sang,  and  I  was  sure  that  no 
one  else  could  sing  so  sweetly  or  look  so  graceful  or 
compare  with  her  in  any  way. 

'  Three  or  four  times  during  each  winter  we  had  parties 
of  young  people  at  the  Grange,  to  which  the  best  families 
in  the  neighborhood  sent  their  girls  and  boys,  and  the 
programme  of  amusements  was  so  entertaining  and 
varied  that  all  looked  forward  to  these  occasions  with 
unbounded  delight  and  looked  back  upon  them  as 
among  the  brightest  spots  in  their  lives.  In  summer 
time  the  children  of  the  village  were  invited  to  picnics 
in  the  Grange  park,  where  all  sorts  of  games  were  held, 
and  I  was  encouraged  to  enter  into  the  various  sports 
on  equal  terms  with  the  children  of  our  poorer  neigh 
bors,  who  were  made  to  feel  perfectly  at  home  with  us, 
a  privilege  which  they  seldom  abused.  The  pleasure 
they  took  in  the  great  swings  under  the  trees,  the  races 
and  games  in  the  park,  and  the  grand  banquet  in  the 
open  air,  at  which  they  were  waited  on  by  all  the  servants 
of  the  Grange,  was  something  to  witness  and  remember. 
The  years  of  my  childhood  passed  swiftly  away,  and  it 
was  not  without  regret  that  I  began  to  look  forward  at 
eighteen  to  a  four  years'  course  at  the  University  of  Ox 
ford.  My  cousins  did  not  accompany  me  there,  for  at 


AN  ENGLISH  VILLAGE.  17 

this  time  they  were  both  preparing  to  enter  the  army, 
in  which  they  are  now  distinguished  and  rising  officers, 
Philip  in  the  cavalry  and  John  in  the  engineers.  I  suf 
fered  severely  from  homesickness  during  the  first  three 
months  at  Oxford,  never  having  been  from  home  for 
any  length  of  time  before,  but  the  distance  by  rail  from 
Chingford  was  not  great  and  I  embraced  every  oppor 
tunity  of  spending  a  few  days  at  the  Grange.  But  I 
began  to  find  friends  amongst  my  fellow-students  and 
gradually  became  reconciled  to  the  new  way  of  living, 
though  my  home  remained  as  dear  to  me  as  ever.  My 
mother  began  now  to  suggest  to  me  that  I  should  make 
choice  of  a  profession  or  career  in  life,  for  she  never  en 
tertained  the  idea  that  the  possession  of  wealth  formed 
any  excuse  for  a  life  of  idleness.  I  could  see  that  the 
subject  was  a  painful  one  to  her,  for  she  feared  that  I 
might  adopt  some  vocation  which  would  take  me  away 
from  Chingford  and  thus  permanently  separate  us,  so  I 
pondered  over  the  matter  long  and  earnestly  and  was  in 
no  hurry  to  make  up  my  mind.  One  day  during  the  long 
vacation  after  my  second  year  at  the  university  I  said  to 
her:  "You  are  anxious  to  know  what  I  am  going  to  be, 
mother,  and  I  can  only  think  of  one  thing  that  would  sat 
isfy  me." 

"And  what  is  that,  my  son?" 

"To  be  prime  minister  of  England." 

My  mother  smiled  and  said :  "Your  ambition  is  rather 
exalted.  Do  you  think  you  have  the  talents  necessary  to 
fill  such  a  high  station?" 

"No,  I  do  not,"  I  answered,  "for  I  have  met  many 
fellows  at  Oxford  who  are  much  cleverer  that  I  am,  and 
I  have  no  doubt  it  would  be  the  same  in  Parliament,  so 
I  am  afraid  I  shall  have  to  aim  at  something  lower.  I 
might  possibly  hope  to  be  a  cabinet  minister  some  day 


18  IONIA. 

if  I  gave  my  whole  life  to  politics,  but  as  nothing  less 
than  the  premiership  would  suit  me  I  think  I  shall  stay 
out  of  Parliament." 

"And  what  do  you  find  so  attractive  about  the  position 
of  the  prime  minister?" 

"The  power  of  doing  good  to  his  fellow-men.  I  know 
of  no  one  who  has  done  as  much  as  you  to  benefit  the 
people  amongst  whom  we  live,  and  it  seems  to  me  that 
the  noblest  ambition  for  your  son  would  be  to  carry  out 
your  ideas  of  practical  beneficence  on  a  larger  scale,  and 
if  I  were  premier  I  might  institute  reforms  into  our  laws 
which  would  do  much  to  ameliorate  the  condition  of  the 
working  classes  of  the  whole  country." 

"I  am  afraid,"  she  replied,  "that  you  would  find  the 
power  of  the  prime  minister  much  more  limited  in  that 
direction  than  you  imagine.  He  is  bound  by  the  ties  of 
party,  which  prevent  him  carrying  out  his  own  ideas, 
and  he  cannot  move  in  the  direction  of  reform  any  faster 
than  their  convictions  or  their  interests  will  permit.  The 
first  duty  of  the  prime  minister  is  considered  by  his  fol 
lowers  to  be  to  retain  the  governing  power  as  long  as 
possible  and  all  other  considerations  have  to  give  way  to 
that.  Far-reaching  measures  of  reform  would  inevitably 
interfere  with  vested  interests,  which  are  always  power 
ful  and  conservative,  and  the  statesman  who  should  de 
liberately  defy  them  would  be  derided  as  a  visionary  and 
a  theorist  and  would  soon  be  swept  aside  by  men  of  less 
elevated  but  more  practical  views.  I  am  glad  to  know 
that  you  put  such  a  high  value  on  my  efforts,  but  when 
you  consider  the  smallness  of  the  sphere  in  which  I  have 
labored  you  must  be  careful  not  to  exaggerate  the 
amount  of  good  that  has  been  done." 

"But  you  have  made  a  great  many  people  happier  and 
better,  and  if  you  are  not  proud  of  it  I  am,  and  if  you  can 


AN  ENGLISH  VILLAGE.  19 

tell  me  of  any  one  who  has  done  more  I  should  be  glad 
to  know  who  it  is." 

"What  I  have  done  is  not  to  be  compared  to  the  labors 
of  others,  if  measured  by  the  sacrifices  involved.  Think, 
for  instance,  of  your  grandfather's  friend,  the  Rev.  John 
Calderwood,  who  has  given  his  whole  life  to  the  poor 
people  of  his  parish  in  the  East  End  of  London,  when, 
if  he  had  listened  to  the  promptings  of  ambition  or 
worldly  interest,  he  might  have  had  high  preferment  in 
the  church  and  might  easily  have  attained  to  a  bishopric 
by  this  time." 

"He  is  a  noble  man,"  said  I,  "and  I  honor  him  for  his 
devotion  to  what  he  considers  his  Master's  cause,  and 
yet  you  remember  what  he  said  when  he  was  here  last 
summer — that  the  visible  results  of  his  life's  work  were 
not  a  tenth  part  of  what  you  had  accomplished  in  this 
little  village." 

"I  think  in  saying  so  his  modesty  caused  him  to  under 
estimate  his  own  work  and  his  charity  to  overestimate 
mine,  but  while  he  has  sacrificed  comfort  and  health  and 
every  worldly  advantage,  I  have  made  no  sacrifice 
at  all.  I  have  had  every  luxury  that  wealth  could  buy, 
have  lived  in  comfort  amongst  my  own  people,  and  the 
work  I  have  don'e  amongst  the  villagers  has  been  itself 
the  greatest  pleasure  to  me.  In  the  eyes  of  the  Master 
my  efforts  are  not  to  be  compared  to  his  for  one  mo 
ment." 

"Well,  mother  mine,  we  cannot  argue  on  that  point, 
but  I  think  your  modest  opinion  of  yourself  does  not  de 
tract  from  the  merit  of  your  achievements,  and  I  think 
credit  is  due  to  results  as  well  as  to  the  means  by  which 
they  are  attained.  How  would  it  be  for  me  to  go  and 
help  Mr.  Calderwood  to  do  for  his  parish  what  you  have 
done  for  Chingford?  It  would  take  a  lot  of  money,  of 


20  IONIA. 

course,  and  you  have  never  told  me  how  much  my  for 
tune  will  amount  to.  The  extent  of  it  will  have  some 
influence  on  my  choice  of  a  career,  and  as  I  am  now 
come  to  years  of  discretion  I  think  you  might  safely  trust 
me  with  that  important  secret." 

"If  I  have  not  told  you  before  it  is  partly  because  of 
the  greatness  of  the  wealth  which  awaits  you,  but  I  think 
it  would  be  only  right  that  you  should  know  now,  for  it 
will  doubtless  influence  you  in  the  way  you  have  indi 
cated.  As  I  have  always  tried  to  impress  upon  your  mind 
that  great  wealth  means  great  responsibility  I  trust  you 
may  prove  yourself  equal  to  the  trust  that  will  be  imposed 
upon  you  on  your  coming  of  age,  and  yet  I  could  almost 
wish  the  time  were  further  off,  for  I  cannot  think  of  you 
yet  as  anything  more  than  a  boy,  although  I  have  to  look 
up  to  you  when  you  stand  beside  me." 

"Well,  mother,  I  see  you  are  afraid  to  come  to  the 
point,  but  don't  be  alarmed,  I  promise  you  it  won't  turn 
my  head  if  it  should  be  a  million." 

"Your  father  left  you  seven  hundred  and  fifty  thousand 
pounds,  all  of  which  was  very  well  invested,  partly  in 
stocks  and  partly  in  London  real  estate.  The  interest  has 
been  large  and  has  been  steadily  added  to  the  principal, 
till  now  it  amounts  to  fully  two  million  pounds.'^ 

"Two  million  pounds!" 

I  had  just  said  that  a  million  woul< 
but  I  had  not  bargained  for  two  millions,  and 
that  for  the  moment  it  made  my  head  swim  and  took 
away  my  breath. 

"Why,  mother,  that's  positively  awful." 

"I  think  it  is  literally  an  awful  sum,  my  boy,  and  I  have 
prayed  to  God  many  a  time  that  you  would  have  the  wis 
dom  to  use  it  rightly." 

"Amen,"  said  I,  and  for  a  few  minutes  I  was  silent,  feel- 


AN  ENGLISH  VILLAGE.  21 

ing  absolutely  miserable  in  the  contemplation  of  the  pos 
session  of  such  a  load  of  wealth.  All  at  once  an  idea 
came  into  my  mind,  and  I  said,  excitedly: 

"I'll  tell  you  what  I'll  do,  mother,  I  will  really  go  and 
help  Mr.  Calderwood  and  make  his  wretched  parish  of  St. 
Oswald's  an  oasis  in  the  desert  of  East  London,  and  when 
that  is  done  we  will  begin  upon  the  next  and  the  next 
and  drive  away  all  the  wickedness  and  the  misery  of  it  and 
set  the  people  on  their  feet  and  make  them  self-respecting 
and  self-supporting  citizens  just  like  your  Chingford 
folks.  Two  million  pounds!  With  such  a  sum  as  that 
we  can  abolish  all  the  London  slums  and  make  tens  of 
thousands  of  people  happy." 

My  mother  smiled  at  my  enthusiasm,  although  it 
brought  tears  to  her  eyes,  and,  as  she  wiped  them  away, 
she  said: 

"God  bless  you  my  boy  for  the  thought.  There  may 
not  be  so  much  virtue  in  two  million  pounds  as  you  think, 
but  it  can  be  made  to  do  a  vast  amount  of  good,  and  if  you 
continue  to  feel  about  it  as  you  do  now,  the  possession  of 
it  will  be  a  blessing  to  you  instead  of  a  curse,  as  it  might 
easily  have  been  in  other  hands.  For  the  present  I  would 
not  speak  of  it  to  anyone  for  you  might  change  your  mind 
beforey|^are  twenty-one,  and  I  would  advise  you  to 
thinl^B  fc^^Mfc|riously  and  learn  more  of  what  you 
woujB  HPAMiore  committing  yourself  to  it." 

"I^Pmd  like  to  begin  at  once,"  said  I,  "next  week  if  it 
were  possible." 

"Fortunately  that  is  out  of  the  question.  Your  fortune 
cannot  be  touched  until  you  reach  twenty-one,  and  if  you 
will  be  guided  by  me  you  will  not  only  finish  the  course 
you  have  commenced  at  the  university  but  spend  at  least 
one  year  in  traveling  in  foreign  countries  afterwards,  so 


22  IONIA. 

that  you  may  know  something  of  other  lands  before  you 
begin  any  great  work  in  your  own." 

"Well,  mother,  I  am  sure  you  know  best,  but  I  am  also 
sure  that  this  money  which  my  father  left  me  will  be  a 
great  burden  to  me  until  I  begin  to  spend  some  of  it  in 
relieving  the  distresses  of  some  of  my  less  fortunate  fel 
low  citizens." 

And  this  idea  which  took  such  a  sudden  hold  of  me 
proved  to  be  no  evanescent  youthful  fancy.  It  seemed  to 
me  that  the  great  wealth  inherited  from  my  father  and  the 
beneficent  work  of  my  mother  combined  to  point  out  the 
path  of  duty  clearly  before  me,  and  I  believed  myself 
destined  by  Providence  to  accomplish  a  great  work 
amongst  those  of  my  countrymen  and  countrywomen 
who  had  been  overtaken  by  poverty  and  misfortune.  The 
east  end  of  London  offered  a  vast  field  for  such  efforts, 
and  to  it  my  mind  constantly  turned.  I  continued  to 
pursue  my  studies  at  Oxford  and  endeavored  to  make  as 
good  an  appearance  at  the  examinations  as  possible,  but 
all  my  spare  time  was  devoted  to  reading  works  upon  the 
condition  of  the  poor  in  London  and  elsewhere.  I  cor 
responded  with  Mr.  Calderwood  and  told  him  of  the 
course  I  had  resolved  upon,  and  as  soon  as  I  was  master 
of  my  fortune,  sent  him  my  first  check  as  an  installment 
of  greater  things  to  come. 

It  was  only  the  earnest  entreaty  of  my  mother  that  pre 
vailed  upon  me  to  postpone  for  a  year  the  commencement 
of  the  work  which  had  become  the  dream  of  my  life.  She 
consented  to  accompany  me  during  the  first  month  of  my 
tour,  and  we  had  a  very  pleasant  sojourn  in  France,  Italy 
and  Switzerland.  There  were  with  us  a  former  tutor  of 
mine,  Dr.  Reginald  Godwin,  and  a  maiden  aunt  of  my 
own,  Miss  Virginia  Musgrave,  my  father's  youngest  sis 
ter.  She  was  a  person  of  great  vivacity  and  good  nature, 


AN  ENGLISH  VILLAGE.  23 

and  her  presence  added  much  to  my  mother's  enjoyment 
of  the  trip.  But  no  amount  of  persuasion  could  induce 
my  mother  to  remain  long  away  from  her  dear  villagers, 
so  we  returned  by  the  Rhine  and  Belgium  to  England 
and  our  native  village.  After  a  few  days'  rest  Dr.  Godwin 
and  I  set  off  again  and  visited  nearly  every  country  in 
Europe  from  Norway  to  Greece,  and  spent  the  winter 
months  in  Syria  and  Egypt,  returning  by  Spain,  Italy  and 
Germany.  Dr.  Godwin  was  a  delightful  companion,  for 
he  had  not  only  traveled  much  and  made  himself  ac 
quainted  with  all  that  was  to  be  seen  of  historical  and 
archaeological  interest,  but  he  had  a  very  extensive  ac 
quaintance  amongst  the  learned  men  of  Europe,  and  at 
every  university  we  visited  he  was  sure  to  find  some  old 
friend  who  willingly  did  the  honors  of  the  place  and 
showed  us  many  things  rare  and  curious  that  we  should 
otherwise  have  missed. 

While  endeavoring  to  take  full  advantage  of  my  oppor 
tunities  to  see  and  learn  all  I  possibly  could  from  the  fine 
examples  of  architecture  and  painting  which  came  in  our 
way,  as  well  as  to  improve  my  knowledge  of  history  by 
studying  the  remains  of  ancient  buildings  to  be  found  in 
all  the  different  countries  we  visited,  I  never  for  a  moment 
forgot  the  great  work  of  my  life,  and  made  inquiry  in  all 
the  large  cities  as  to  the  condition  of  the  poor  and  what 
was  being  done  for  their  benefit.  I  was  told  of  the  build 
ing  of  hospitals  and  schools,  of  the  founding  of  asylums 
for  the  aged  and  those  who  were  afflicted  with  mental  and 
physical  disease,  of  charity  doled  out  in  driblets,  but  no 
where  did  I  find  any  comprehensive  plans  in  operation 
for  the  permanent  raising  of  the  poorest  class  to  a  self- 
supporting  and  self-respecting  level  in  the  way  that  my 
mother  had  followed  in  our  own  little  village.  When  I 
told  what  she  had  done,  wise  men  shook  their  heads  and 


24  IONIA. 

said  that  while  her  good  work  was  worthy  of  the  greatest 
praise,  yet  such  a  thing  was  only  possible  on  a  small  scale 
and  would  be  utterly  impracticable  in  a  great  city,  where 
the  poverty  and  degradation  of  the  lowest  class  was  too 
vast  for  human  effort  to  alleviate.  The  charitable  labors 
of  philanthropists  might  do  good  in  certain  individual 
cases,  but  the  ranks  of  the  destitute  were  continually  be 
ing  recruited  from  innumerable  sources,  and  the  great 
mass  of  hapless  poverty  remained  practically  unchanged 
from  year  to  year.  One  great  philosopher  of  world-wide 
fame  expressed  himself  in  conversation  with  me  in  these 
words: 

"When  we  look  backward  over  the  history  of  mankind 
we  find  the  condition  of  the  world  steadily  improving. 
From  epoch  to  epoch  there  is  observed  a  constant  up 
ward  tendency;  there  may  be  retrogression,  but  each  step 
forward  is  always  in  advance  of  the  last.  In  the  earliest 
civilizations  of  which  we  have  any  record  the  condition 
of  the  poor  was  almost  intolerable.  The  pyramids  of 
Egypt  and  the  Towers  of  Babylon  were  built  by  multi 
tudes  of  slaves  cowering  under  the  lash  of  their  taskmas 
ters.  Human  life  was  of  little  account,  and  these  great 
monuments  were  erected  only  through  the  suffering  of 
myriads  of  poor  wretches  who  toiled  and  died  in  misery 
in  order  that  the  glory  of  kings  might  be  exalted.  What 
a  mighty  advance  we  find  in  the  joyous  freedom  and  in 
tellectual  life  of  the  Greeks!  And  yet  even  amongst  them 
the  larger  proportion  of  the  people  were  slaves.  Wars 
were  continually  occurring,  and  the  political  situation  was 
one  of  great  instability.  From  the  palmy  days  of  Greece 
to  the  decay  of  the  Roman  empire  and  its  disruption  by 
barbarous  hordes  from  the  North  was  undoubtedly  a 
great  back-sliding,  and  yet  the  way  was  being  prepared 
for  the  mightiest  advance  of  all,  From  that  time  onward 


AN  ENGLISH  VILLAGE.  25 

progress  has  been  steady  and  sure.  The  art  of  printing 
has  unlocked  the  fetters  of  men's  minds  and  dispelled  the 
ignorance  which  held  them  in  bondage;  slavery  in 
all  forms  has  been  abolished  from  every  civilized  country ; 
war  itself  has  become  civilized  and  is  waged  as  between 
army  against  army  rather  than  nation  against  nation;  the 
red  cross  goes  with  the  conquerors  and  robs  the  battle 
field  of  its  worst  horrors;  the  poorest  of  men  nowadays 
have  opportunities  which  were  denied  to  their  ancestors, 
and  the  accident  of  birth  debars  no  man  from  attaining  to 
dignities,  provided  that  he  has  the  ability  to  contend  with 
adverse  circumstances.  The  condition  of  humanity  to 
day  is  vastly  improved  in  comparison  with  the  middle 
ages,  but  if  we  compare  it  with  the  lot  of  the  masses  liv 
ing  three  thousand  years  ago  it  is  like  contrasting  light 
with  darkness. 

"Now  the  cause  of  all  this  upward  progress  is  not  to  be 
found  in  human  effort  directed  consciously  towards  that 
end.  The  good  that  philanthropists  and  reformers  have 
accomplished  has  invariably  been  local  and  temporary, 
and  has  been  accompanied  by  counterbalancing  evils. 
Christianity  itself,  which  undertook  to  transform  men  into 
angels,  could  not  prevent  the  lapse  of  civilized  Europe  in 
to  semi-barbarism,  and  the  mutual  persecutions  of  its  var 
ious  sects  form  a  dark  background  to  its  doctrine  of  good 
will  towards  men.  The  fact  is,  that  while  humanity  is 
weak,  nature  is  strong.  Evolution  brought  forth  this 
beautiful  green  earth  from  the  dark  womb  of  chaos.  Ev 
olution  has  educed  civilization  from  the  savage  state. 
Evolution  will  improve  that  civilization  until  the  future 
inhabitants  of  this  world  will  look  back  upon  our  era  as 
one  of  barbarous  ignorance  and  misery.  The  work  may 
be  slow;  there  may  be  periods  of  retrogression,  but  they 


26  IONIA. 

will  be  only  temporary.  All  human  history  and  all  cos 
mic  history  prove  to  us  that  the  march  of  progress  is  ir 
resistible.  We  cannot  help  it  much;  the  most  we  can  do 
is  to  endeavor  not  to  hinder  it.  Whether  we  look  for 
ward  or  backward  we  find  reason  for  supreme  satisfaction 
in  the  inherent  beneficence  of  nature;  the  evils  we  see 
around  us  will  pass  away  and  cause  no  uneasiness  to  him 
who  looks  at  them  with  a  philosophic  eye." 

This  was  cold  comfort  to  one  whose  soul  was  glowing 
with  enthusiasm  in  the  idea  of  regenerating  the  down 
trodden  poor  of  his  country,  but  it  did  not  influence  me 
much.  I  thought  if  that  was  all  the  help  we  could  get 
from  science  and  philosophy  we  must  even  get  along 
without  them  and  let  them  pursue  their  cold  and  barren 
path  with  whatever  satisfaction  they  could  find  in  it.  I 
could  not  believe  that  humanity  was  so  helpless  as  the 
great  man  seemed  to  think,  and  while  failure  was  probable 
and  success  uncertain,  yet  there  were  thousands  of  earnest 
men  and  women  whose  efforts  had  left  the  world  better 
than  they  found  it,  and  I  did  believe  that  constant  en 
deavor  would  at  least  clear  the  way  for  future  laborers, 
and  that  at  last  the  true  path  of  progress  would  be  found 
and  humanity  raised  to  a  higher  and  nobler  level. 

It  was  therefore  without  any  change  of  purpose  or 
abatement  of  zeal  for  my  self-appointed  task  that  I  re 
turned  home  after  my  year  of  travel.  I  had  seen  so 
much  of  the  poverty  and  distress  of  the  great  continental 
cities  that  I  was  perhaps  a  little  less  sanguine  of  good  re 
sults,  but  at  the  same  time  I  was  more  than  ever  con 
vinced  of  the  urgent  necessity  of  the  work  to  be  done,  and 
felt  impatient  to  make  a  beginning.  I  remained  in 
Chingford  about  two  weeks,  more  to  please  my  mother 
than  from  any  need  I  felt  of  rest  or  recuperation,  and  then 


DARKEST   LONDON.  27 

set  out  for  the  Metropolis  to  survey  the  ground  and  con 
sider  the  plan  of  operations  in  consultation  with  the  rector 
of  St.  Oswald's. 


CHAPTER  II. 
DARKEST  LONDON. 

It  was  on  a  Monday  afternoon  early  in  June  that  I  ar 
rived  at  St.  Oswald's  intent  on  commencing  what  I  sin 
cerely  believed  had  been  marked  out  by  Providence  as  the 
work  of  my  life.  We  had  been  enjoying  the  most  de 
lightful  summer  weather  at  Chingford  for  the  two  weeks 
previous,  but  here  it  looked  as  if  summer  never  showed 
itself.  A  cold  northeast  wind  was  blowing,  a  dismal  can 
opy  of  cloud  and  smoke  hung  over  the  city  and  the  steady 
rain  had  almost  cleared  the  streets  of  passengers.  Not  a 
blade  of  grass  nor  anything  green  was  visible,  only  dreary 
blocks  of  houses  built  of  brick  and  so  encrusted  with  the 
sooty  deposit  which  rain  and  fog  bring  down  in  this  part 
of  the  city  that  it  was  difficult  to  tell  whether  the  original 
color  had  been  red  or  white.  The  rector's  parlor,  whose 
windows  looked  out  on  the  dismal  street,  was  not  much 
more  cheerful  than  the  view  of  the  houses  opposite.  The 
small  panes  of  glass,  it  is  true,  were  whole  instead  of  being 
broken  and  stuffed  with  rags  like  many  of  those  which 
confronted  it,  but  the  threadbare  carpet,  the  old-fashioned 
sofa  and  chairs  with  horse-hair  upholstering,  the  faded 
wall  paper  and  the  feeble  coal  fire  which  smoked  up  the 
chimney,  all  betokened  a  lack  of  comfort  which  told  of 
the  ascetic  life  of  its  bachelor  owner. 

On  being  ushered  into  the  room  I  found  two  persons 
present,  one  the  Rev.  John  Calderwrood  himself,  a  tell 
man  of  sixty,  with  slightly  stooping  shoulders  and  scanty 


28  IONIA. 

hair  and  whiskers  of  a  sandy  gray,  the  other  was  his 
curate,  the  Rev.  Arthur  Manson,  a  middle-sized,  square- 
built  man  of  thirty,  with  clean-shaven  face  of  the  bull 
dog  type,  massive  jaws,  coal-black  hair  and  honest,  clear, 
gray  eyes.  This  was  my  first  introduction  to  Mr.  Man- 
son,  and  I  was  well  pleased  with  his  appearance.  He 
looked  like  one  who  would  not  shrink  from  difficulties 
or  readily  give  up  any  undertaking  to  which  he  had  once 
given  his  mind.  We  seated  ourselves  round  the  fire 
place  and  Mr.  Calderwood  expressed  his  regret  that  my 
first  visit  to  his  parish  should  have  been  made  on  such  a 
wet  and  gloomy  day. 

"Never  mind  that,"  I  said,  "the  prospect  is  dark  and 
cheerless  just  now,  but  before  long  there  will  be  some 
sunshine  upon  St.  Oswald's  I  promise  you." 

The  old  man  smiled  sadly  and  said,  "See  what  a  fine 
thing  youth  is!  Here  am  I,  old  and  pretty  nearly  worn 
out,  with  hope  itself  almost  dead  within  me,  and  you  come 
along  with  a  young  heart  and  fresh  courage,  and  faith 
which  refuses  to  be  daunted  by  untoward  appearances, 
and  talking  of  sunshine  when  only  dark  and  lowering 
clouds  are  visible.  I  trust  your  hopes  will  not  be  doomed 
to  disappointment  as  mine  have  been,  and  I  have  faith 
enough  left  to  believe  that  you  may  reap  a  harvest  for 
which  I  have  toiled  in  vain." 

"I  am  sure,"  said  I,  "that  you  will  help  us  to  reap  that 
harvest,  nor  do  I  think  you  should  look  so  slightingly  on 
your  own  achievements.  You  have  saved  many  a  soul 
from  destruction  and  many  a  life  from  despair,  and  if  the 
mass  of  misery  and  destitution  around  you  seems  as  great 
as  ever,  it  was  simply  because  it  was  beyond  the  power  of 
any  one  situated  as  you  have  been  to  root  it  up.  But  I 
wish  to  know  something  of  the  nature  of  the  evils  we  have 
to  contend  with,  so  if  you  please,  I  should  like  to  hear 


DARKEST   LONDON.  29 

from  you  what  you  consider  the  greatest  difficulty  in  the 
way  of  reforming  the  wretched  people  of  which  your  par 
ish  is  made  up." 

"It  is  difficult  to  say  whether  ignorance  or  vice  is  our 
greatest  enemy,  ignorance  which  refuses  to  be  enlight 
ened,  or  vice  which  hardly  recognizes  itself  as  such,  and 
neither  believes  in  nor  has  any  aspirations  after  virtue. 
Many  of  the  people  around  us  have  inherited  such  de-  / 
praved  natures  that  even  the  grace'of  God  seems  power 
less  to  change  them.  But  there  are  others  who  are  not 
naturally  wicked  who  would  lead  moral  and  respectable 
lives  if  they  could,  and  amongst  these  we  manage  to  res 
cue  one  here  and  there.  Of  these  *very  few  remain 
here,  they  become  disgusted  with  their  surroundings  and 
move  to  other  neighborhoods  where  they  can  enjoy  more 
of  the  comforts  and  decencies  of  life,  and  we  never  try  to 
prevent  them  doing  so.  But  their  places  are  always  filled 
up  with  others  who  are  as  bad  as  the  people  around  them, 
and  thus  the  parish  remains  at  about  the  same  level  of 
wickedness  and  misery." 

"Do  those  whom  you  persuade  to  try  and  lead  better 
lives  generally  succeed  in  doing  so,  or  is  their  reformation 
as  a  rule  only  temporary?" 

"Alas !  I  am  afraid  we  must  admit  that  we  are  only  par 
tially  successful  in  rescuing  those  even  who  are  willing  to 
be  helped ;  there  are  dramshops  and  gin  palaces  at  every 
corner,  and  many  a  man  whom  we  have  thought  to  be 
well  along  in  the  path  of  reformation  has  succumbed  to 
some  momentary  temptation  and  fallen  back  at  once  into 
the  slough  from  which  it  is  more  difficult  afterwards  to 
rescue  him." 

Mr.  Manson,  who  had  hitherto  remained  silent,  now 
spoke  with  bitter  earnestness,  saying : 

"That  is  the  greatest  curse  of  all!     Those  we  have  to 


30  IONIA. 

deal  with  are  either  perversely  wicked  or  miserably  weak 
and  the  glittering  gin  palaces  are  constantly  enticing  the 
latter  to  their  ruin.  If  we  could  only  close  up  those  that 
are  within  sight  from  the  door  of  the  church  it  would  help 
us  some." 

"They  shall  be  closed,"  I  said. 

''And  then  the  houses  are  in  such  miserable  condition; 
what  with  drafty  doors  and  ill-fitting  casements,  to  say 
nothing  of  broken  windows  and  the  utter  absence  of  sani 
tary  arrangements,  the  plague  of  rats  and  worse  vermin, 
the  over-crowding  and  the  noisome  smells,  it  is  no  won 
der  the  poor  wretches  fly  to  the  public  houses  for  the  com 
fort  which  it  is  impossible  for  them  to  find  in  their  own 
miserable  homes/' 

'That  also  shall  be  remedied,"  I  said. 

"I  could  give  you  thousands  of  instances,"  he  contin 
ued,  "of  men  who  have  endeavored  to  abandon  their  evil 
ways,  but  who  have  been  dragged  hopelessly  down  again 
by  the  sheer  misery  of  their  surroundings  on  the  one  hand 
and  the  allurements  of  the  gin  shop  on  the  other,  but  one 
will  suffice,  for  the  story  repeats  itself  in  all.  A  man  of 
the  name  of  Wilkins,  a  brass-fitter,  and  an  excellent  me 
chanic,  came  to  live  in  the  court  whose  entrance  you  can 
see  now  from  the  further  window,  about  six  years  ago, 
He"  was  in  the  habit  of  getting  drunk  every  Saturday  and 
remaining  in  a  state  of  intoxication  as  long  as  his  money 
lasted.  I  spoke  with  him  every  time  I  could  find  him 
sober  and  found  that  he  was  not  bad  at  heart.  He  was 
thoroughly  ashamed  of  his  weakness,  but  had  no  confi 
dence  in  his  ability  to  conquer  his  appetite  for  drink.  I 
induced  him,  however,  to  sign  the  pledge,  and  he  tried 
hard  to  keep  it.  For  nearly  two  years  he  never  tasted 
liquor;  he  joined  the  church  and  endeavored  to  use  his 
influence  with  others  to  follow  his  example,  speaking  at 


DARKEST   LONDON.  31 

temperance  meetings  and  taking  a  class  in  Sunday  school. 
We  looked  upon  him  as  thoroughly  cured  of  his  infirmity 
and  felt  little  fear  of  his  relapsing  from  grace,  but  his  wife 
was  a  slatternly,  untidy  woman  and  his  home  never  had 
any  appearance  of  comfort,  and  in  an  evil  hour  he  was 
tempted  to  cross  the  threshold  of  one  of  those  wretched 
dramshops.  It  was  probably  only  a  momentary  indul 
gence  he  proposed  to  himself,  but  the  first  glass  of  rum 
undid  all  the  good  that  his  two  years  of  self-denial  had 
accomplished,  and  he  returned  to  his  family  in  a  state  of 
maudlin  intoxication.  From  that  time  his  power  of  will 
has  been  utterly  gone,  and  wre  have  never  been  able  to 
persuade  him  to  another  effort.  He  has  a  large  family  of 
children  who  live  in  starvation  and  rags  and  are  growing 
up  as  thieves  and  worse  than  thieves,  his  wife  has  taken 
to  drink,  herself,  to  drown  her  sorrows,  and  there  is  no 
more  hopeless,  disreputable  family  in  the  whole  parish. 
It  is  cases  like  this  that  make  our  work  so  disheartening, 
and  we  are  glad  to  see  those  who  try  to  lead  decent  re 
spectable  lives  remove  to  other  districts  where  their  sur 
roundings  will  be  such  as  to  elevate  them  instead  of  drag 
ging  them  down  even  though  our  own  parish  should  suf 
fer  by  their  absence." 

'Then,"  said  I,  "it  appears  to  me  that  the  only  hope  of 
reforming  the  parish  is  by  shutting  up  the  gin  shops  and 
rebuilding  the  dwelling  houses." 

"That,"  said  Mr.  Calderwood,  "would  be  transforming 
rather  than  reforming  it.  We  should  undoubtedly  have 
a  more  respectable  class  of  people  living  here,  but  they 
would  not  be  of  the  class  amongst  whom  we  have 
labored." 

"True  enough,"  said  I,  "but  you  would  still  have 
abundant  scope  for  your  missionary  work  in  the  slums 
which  lie  beyond  your  transformed  district.  With  your 


32  IONIA. 

permission  we  will  have  this  plan  put  in  operation  at  once, 
at  least  as  regards  the  four  blocks  which  surround  the 
church." 

"It  would  be  a  very  expensive  experiment." 
"I  think,"  said  I,  "it  would  hardly  be  called  an  experi 
ment.  The  removal  of  those  miserable  tumble-down 
structures  and  the  erection  of  buildings  fit  for  the  abode 
of  human  beings  would  be  a  good  work  in  itself,  and  the 
expense  will  be  a  matter  of  small  consideration.  But 
that  will  be  a  work  of  time,  and  I  propose  for  the  present 
under  your  guidance  or  that  of  Mr.  Manson  to  make  my 
self  more  familiar  with  the  character  of  the  people  we 
have  to  deal  with.  I  will  accompany  you  in  your  round  of 
visits  amongst  them  and  see  for  myself  all  the  wretched 
ness  and  the  misery  of  which  I  have  so  often  heard  you 
speak.  I  think  perhaps  four  or  five  days  in  the  week  will 
be  all  I  can  stand  of  it  at  present,  and  I  intend  to  retire 
to  Chingford  every  Friday  or  Saturday  and  breathe  my 
native  air  for  a  couple  of  days,  returning  with  fresh  energy 
each  Monday.  How  you  gentlemen  can  stand  it  day  in 
and  day  out  for  years  without  breaking  down  is  more 
than  I  can  understand." 

"With  me,"  said  the  rector,  "it  has  become  second  na 
ture,  but  indeed  there  never  has  been  a  year  when  I  have 
not  taken  a  vacation  for  a  week  or  two.  You  know 
how  often  I  have  been  the  guest  of  Dr.  Wolverton,  and  I 
have  many  other  friends  with  whom  I  have  passed  pleas 
ant  days  in  the  country  from  time  to  time,  especially  of 
late  years  when  my  strength  has  not  been  so  great  as  it 
used  to  be.  But  Mr.  Manson  has  never  left  the  post  of 
duty  for  one  day  for  five  years,  and  I  fear  his  health  will 
give  way  under  it  unless  he  has  some  rest  and  recreation 
soon." 


DARKEST   LONDON.  33 

"Never  fear  for  me,"  said  the  curate.  "I  am  young  and 
strong  and  in  no  danger  of  breaking  down." 

But  even  as  he  spoke  I  examined  him  more  narrowly 
than  I  had  hitherto  done,  and  saw  signs  of  exhaustion  in 
the  pallor  of  his  face,  and  a  certain  yellow  tinge  in  the 
whites  of  the  eyes.  He  had  a  strongly  built  frame,  but  his 
clothes  hung  somewhat  loosely  upon  him,  and  it  was  evi 
dent  he  stood  greatly  in  need  of  toning  up,  and  nothing 
but  a  good  long  holiday  and  complete  change  of  air  and 
scene  would  do  it.  So  I  said  to  him : 

"Mr.  Manson,  I  am  going  to  ask  a  great  favor  of  you, 
and  that  is  that  you  should  go  away  from  here  for  a  few 
weeks  at  least.  Take  a  trip  up  the  Rhine,  or  visit  the 
mountains  and  lakes  of  our  own  country.  Breathe  the 
air  of  the  hills  and  woods  for  a  time  and  come  back  to 
your  work  the  strong  man  that  nature  intended  you  to  be. 
The  charges  shall  be  mine,  and  I  will  not  hear  of  any  de 
nial.  I  said  it  would  be  a  favor  to  me,  but  I  will  not  ask 
you  to  do  it  on  that  ground.  We  are  both  now  embarked 
in  this  enterprise  of  helping  the  poor  and  the  unfortunate, 
and  without  health  we  can  do  nothing,  so  it  is  your  mani 
fest  duty  to  accept  this  offer  which  is  made  in  the  interest 
of  our  common  cause." 

"Mr.  Musgrave,"  he  said,  "I  cannot  find  words  to  ex 
press  my  grateful  sense  of  your  kindness,  but  I  fear  it 
would  be  impossible  for  me  to  leave  at  the  present  time. 
The  work  of  the  parish  is  too  heavy  for  the  rector  alone." 

"That  difficulty  might  be  overcome,"  said  Mr.  Calder- 
wood,  "and  I  do  not  think  you  should  allow  any  modest 
scruples  to  prevent  you  accepting  Mr.  Musgrave's  timely 
offer,  for  I  really  think  a  change  is  absolutely  necessary 
for  you." 

Then,  turning  to  me,  he  said: 

"Mr.  Manson  has  a  younger  brother  who  has  just  tak- 


34  IONIA. 

en  orders  and  is  without  a  charge  as  yet.  He  has  taken 
great  interest  in  our  work  here,  and  would  take  his  broth 
er's  place  most  willingly  and  acceptably  for  a  time." 

'The  very  thing,"  said  I,  "and  perhaps  we  may  enlist 
him  permanently  in  our  cause.  I  want  one  or  two  zeal 
ous  young  men  to  act  under  my  orders,  and  if  Mr.  Man- 
son's  brother  is  willing  he  shall  be  one  of  them.  Now, 
Mr.  Manson,  are  you  married?" 

"No,"  said  he,  "I  am  a  bachelor." 

"Have  you  a  sister?" 

"Yes,  my  youngest  sister  lives  at  home  with  my  father 
and  mother  and  my  brother  Edward." 

"Well,  take  her  with  you.  A  man  cannot  always  enjoy 
a  holiday  alone,  and  your  sister  will  be  company  for  you. 
Shall  it  be  the  Rhine  or  the  Cumberland  lakes  or  the  high 
lands  of  Scotland?" 

"Really,  Mr.  Musgrave,  your  kindness  is  too  over 
whelming." 

"Never  mind  about  that,"  said  I,  "it  is  a  settled  thing; 
you  heard  what  the  rector  said.  You  just  go  home  to 
night  and  talk  it  over  with  your  sister  and  make  up  your 
minds  when  you  want  to  go.  I  am  an  old  traveler  and 
will  be  glad  to  help  you  to  map  out  a  route.  And  now, 
Mr.  Calderwood,  I  must  leave  you  for  the  present,  but  I 
shall  report  for  duty  to-morrow  morning.  There  is  just 
one  other  thing  I  wish  to  say,  and  that  is,  that  I  am  deter 
mined  to  avoid  giving  alms  personally  in  any  case  what 
ever,  and  as  I  feel  that  when  I  go  with  you  or  Mr.  Man- 
son  amongst  the  poor  unfortunates  I  shall  feel  as  if  my 
hand  should  be  going  into  my  pocket  all  the  time  to  re 
lieve  their  distresses,  so  I  wish  to  ease  my  conscience  on 
that  score  beforehand  by  asking  you  to  take  this  check 
for  five  hundred  pounds  to  be  expended  for  the  benefit  of 
your  parishioners." 


DARKEST   LONDON.  35 

"A  generous  gift,"  said  he,  "like  many  that  have  come 
before  it,  both  from  yourself  and  your  noble  mother." 

On  my  way  down  to  the  east  end  next  morning  I  called 
at  my  lawyers'  and  instructed  them  to  go  quietly  to  work 
and  buy  up  all  the  property  on  the  four  streets  surround 
ing  St.  Oswald's  parish  church  and  to  secure  options  on 
other  property  in  the  immediate  vicinity,  and  having  thus 
prepared  the  way  for  future  operations,  proceeded  to  ful 
fill  my  appointment  at  the  rectory.  I  found  Mr.  Calder- 
wood  awaiting  me,  and  together  we  set  out  on  a  round  of 
visitations  amongst  the  parishioners.  It  did  not  take 
long  to  convince  me  that  little  good  could  be  accom 
plished  amongst  them  so  long  as  they  were  compelled  to 
live  in  the  miserable  rookeries  which  formed  the  habita 
tions  of  the  parish.  The  squalor  and  filth,  the  noisome 
smells,  the  dark,  mouldy  rooms,  and  the  utter  absence  of 
all  sanitary  conditions  were  such  as  to  preclude  any  idea 
of  comfort  and  decency.  The  people  themselves  im 
pressed  me  as  being  almost  past  redemption,  loafing, 
blear-eyed  men  and  women,  many  of  them  just  recover 
ing  from  a  weekly  debauch  of  gin;  ragged,  unkempt  chil 
dren  swarmed  about  the  courts  and  alleys.  The  scanty 
furniture  of  the  rooms  in  which  whole  families  lived  to 
gether  betokened  the  direst  poverty,  and  in  more  than 
one  case  we  found  the  wretched  belongings  of  the  tenants 
turned  out  into  the  street  or  court  on  account  of  unpaid 
rent,  and  the  miserable  inhabitants  deprived  of  the 
wretched  shelter  which  had  hitherto  protected  them  from 
the  inclemency  of  the  weather.  Of  sickness  there  was  too 
much  evidence,  and  many  a  haggard  wretch  we  saw 
stretched  upon  a  hard  pallet  or  a  heap  of  straw  from 
which  they  would  never  rise  again.  Long  before  the  day's 
work  was  over  I  felt  sick  at  heart  from  the  contemplation 
of  the  scenes  of  misery  and  hopeless  depravity  we  encoun- 


36  IONIA. 

tered.  Here  and  there  we  found  families  whom  misfor 
tune  had  overtaken  and  who  were  evidently  struggling  to 
keep  up  some  show  of  decent  living  amid  the- most  ad 
verse  surroundings.  There  were  widows  with  large 
families  who  took  in  washing,  men  whom  sickness  long 
continued  had  rendered  unable  to  earn  bread  for  their 
children,  and  old  persons  who  had  outlived  their  strength 
striving  by  means  of  chores  and  occasional  jobs  of  light 
work  to  keep  body  and  soul  together.  For  these  my 
heart  bled,  and  it  was  with  difficulty  I  could  resist  the  im 
pulse  to  give  money  for  the  relief  of  their  immediate  ne 
cessities,  but  I  adhered  to  my  resolution  and  left  all  such 
cases  to  the  good  rector,  who  knew  so  much  better  how 

to  deal  with  them. ^ 

I  was  glad  when  the  day  was  over  and  I  could  betake 
myself  to  my  rooms  in  Hoodwell  street  overlooking  the 
Thames  embankment,  where  I  could  breathe  in  comfort 
and  revel  in  the  spacious  view  and  clear  air  of  the  river. 
I  looked  forward  with  dread  to  the  repetition  of  days  like 
that  which  I  had  just  passed  through,  and  felt  overcome 
by  a  feeling  of  impotence  in  the  thought  of  the  hardened 
vice  and  stubborn  depravity  of  the  miserable  wretches 
whom  I  had  undertaken  to  reform.  But  I  held  on  dog 
gedly  to  the  work ;  day  after  day,  and  week  after  week,  I 
continued  to  play  the  part  of  auxiliary  in  the  missionary 
work  of  the  rector,  and  now  and  again  we  had  the  con 
solation  of  rinding  some  who  required  but  a  temporary 
assistance  to  recover  from  the  blows  of  unmerited  misfor 
tune.  My  weekly  visits  to  Chingford  and  the  encourage 
ment  and  sympathy  which  my  mother  never  failed  to  give 
me  on  these  occasions  put  fresh  heart  and  hope  into  me, 
and  I  invariably  returned  from  the  country  with  renewed 
determination  to  carry  on  the  work.  Meantime  the  cu 
rate's  brother  Edward  had  joined  us  and  I  had  the  satis- 


DARKEST   LONDON.  37 

faction  of  seeing  the  elder  Manson  off  on  a  trip  to 
Switzerland  with  his  sister,  who  evidently  looked  upon 
me  as  an  angel  in  human  form,  so  delighted  was  she 
with  the  prospect  of  a  holiday  such  as  she  had  never 
dreamed  of  in  company  with  her  brother,  whose  fail 
ing  health  she  had  been  too  well  aware  of.  Long  be 
fore  their  return  I  was  owner  of  a  large  part  of  the  land 
and  buildings  in  the  center  of  the  parish  of  St.  Oswald's, 
and  it  was  with  intense  satisfaction  that  we  saw  the  work 
of  tearing  down  the  weather-beaten  old  buildings  begun. 
My  plan  of  operations  was  now  complete.  I  proposed  to 
tear  down  the  old  buildings  block  by  block,  and  replace 
them  with  substantial,  well-ventilated  apartment  houses 
arranged  for  renting  in  suites  of  two  to  four  rooms  on 
terms  so  low  as  to  make  them  within  reach  of  people  of 
the  poorest  class,  and  giving  the  preference  to  those  who 
had  previously  lived  in  the  neighborhood,  so  long  as  they 
were  disposed  to  live  decent,  cleanly  lives.  The  work 
could  not  be  hurried,  for  I  was  averse  to  turning  out  one 
set  of  tenants  before  I  had  accommodation  prepared  for 
them,  but  as  fast  as  one  building  was  completed  another 
was  torn  down  and  a  new  one  commenced.  I  closed  the 
gin  shops  at  once  in  all  the  property  that  came  into  my 
hands.  This  was  rather  an  expensive  process,  for  there 
were  leases  to  be  bought  up  and  the  owners  of  these 
places  looked  upon  me  as  their  natural  enemy  and  held 
out  for  exorbitant  prices;  but  by  employing  a  clever 
lawyer  as  go-between  I  managed  to  come  to  terms  with 
them  all  without  making  any  very  serious  inroad  on  my 
bank  account.  This  step  in  itself  relieved  us  of  many  of 
the  worst  characters  in  the  district,  for  they  very  soon  be 
came  tired  of  living  in  a  place  where  they  had  to  go  sev 
eral  blocks  to  supply  themselves  with  liquor.  Still  we 
had  abundant  applications  for  the  new  dwellings,  and  the 


38  IONIA. 

difficulty  was  not  to  find  tenants,  but  to  retain  sufficient 
accommodation  for  those  whom  we  desired  to  help,  and 
who  showed  themselves  in  any  degree  worthy  by  trying 
to  help  themselves.     I  proposed  to  keep  myself  as  much 
in  the  background  as  possible,  and  having  spent  a  whole 
month  in  going  about  with  the  clergyman  and  thus  learn 
ing  by  personal  contact  all  that  was  necessary  of  the  char 
acter  and  situation  of  the  people  of  the  district,  I  re 
solved  to  engage  three  or  four  earnest  men  sympathizing 
with  my  views  to  visit  them  and  endeavor  to  save  from 
ruin  and  wickedness  such  as  were  not  past  redemption. 
Edward  Manson  was  the  first  of  my  missionaries  and  he 
brought  a  warm  heart  and  a  strong  will  to  the  work. 
I  soon  found  others  who  were  willing  to  engage  in  it  and 
selected  two  who  proved  able  and  trustworthy  assistants. 
One  was  a  man  of  middle  age,  who  had  been  rescued  from 
a  drunkard's  life  by  the  rector  himself.     He  had  been 
a  physician  in  good  practice,  who  had  resorted  to  stimu 
lants  to  enable  him  to  stand  the  strain  of  overwork  and 
sleepless  nights.     The  habit  had  grown  upon  him  un 
awares  and  resulted  in  the  loss  of  his  practice  and  the 
death  of  his  wife.  He  was  apparently  a  mere  wreck  when 
Mr.  Calderwood  picked  him  out  of  the  gutter,  but  tem 
perance  had  restored  his  strength  and  manhood,  and, 
although  he  could  doubtless  have  recovered  the  ground 
he  had  lost  in  his  own  profession,  he  preferred  to  devote 
himself  to  the  work  of  saving  others  from  the  vice  which 
had  brought  him  down  so  low.    We  found  his  help  in 
valuable,   for  we  had  many  cases  where  sickness  was 
the  sole  cause  of  the  misfortunes  of  poor  families,  and 
the  doctor  was  very  skillful  and  restored  many  a  father 
and  mother  wyho  seemed  past  human  help  and  enabled 
them  to  start  the  world  afresh.     The  third  member  of 
our  staff  was,  like  Edward  Manson,  a  young  man  who 


DARKEST    LONDON.  39 

had  taken  orders  and  had  been  engaged  as  curate  in 
another  part  of  London,  but,  hearing  of  the  work  which 
I  had  undertaken,  he  came  and  offered  his  services,  be 
lieving  that  he  could  accomplish  much  more  for  the  cause 
of  Christianity  by  laboring  amongst  the  poor  than  by 
assisting  in  the  half-hearted  worship  of  a  fashionable  con 
gregation.  He  was  a  man  somewhat  of  Mr.  Calder- 
wood's  stamp  and  had  very  winning  ways  and  great  per 
suasive  powers.  He  was  much  liked  by  the  children,  and 
through  them  brought  many  of  their  parents  to  amend 
their  lives  of  idleness  and  wickedness. 

These  three,  and  a  young  man  whom  I  engaged  as 
agent  for  the  property  to  collect  the  rents  and  see  that 
the  houses  were  kept  in  good  order  and  repair,  com 
pleted  my  staff,  and  in  the  course  of  twelve  months  we 
had  everything  in  good  working  order.  I  was  aware, 
of  course,  that  even  my  large  fortune  would  not  be 
sufficient  to  root  out  all  the  slums  of  the  east  end  of 
London  and  cover  their  sites  with  proper  dwelling  houses 
for  the  poor.  It  would  hardly  have  been  sufficient  to 
rebuild  the  whole  of  Mr.  Calderwood's  parish,  but  I 
hoped  that  other  people  of  wealth  would  follow  my  ex 
ample  and  that  the  work  thus  begun  would  be  continued 
indefinitely  until  London  became  in  some  respects  a 
model  city  for  the  whole  world. 

We  kept  resolutely  on,  however,  and  my  little  staff 
of  workers  never  got  discouraged,  although  at  times  it 
seemed  as  if  there  was  very  little  practical  result  from 
their  untiring  labors,  but  every  now  and  again  they 
managed  to  pull  some  poor  wretch  out  of  the  mire  and  set 
him  on  his  fe^t  with  fresh  hope  and  courage  for  the 
battle  of  life,  and  many  a  poor  widow  was  enabled  to 
bring  up  her  family  to  honest  industry  instead  of  drifting 
to  the  penitentiary  and  the  street.  So  far  my  work  had 


40  IONIA. 

been  a  repetition  on  a  larger  scale  of  what  my  mother 
had  done  for  the  little  country  village,  and  in  one  other 
particular  I  resolved  to  copy  her  example.  — ^ 

I  was  providing  good,  comfortable,  sanitary  homes  for 
St.  Oswald's  parishioners,  and  I  determined  to  do  some 
thing  as  well  for  their  amusement  and  instruction.  On 
the  corner  of  the  street  facing  the  church  I  built  the  Mus- 
grave  Institute,  named  after  my  father,  whose  statue  in 
bronze  I  caused  to  be  erected  over  the  main  entrance.  It 
is  a  handsome  four-story  building,  designed  to  accom 
plish  the  same  purposes  as  the  Wolverton  Hall  at  Ching- 
ford.  The  ground  floor  is  a  large,  well-lighted  restau 
rant,  wrhere  wholesome  food  is  provided  to  all  comers  at 
astonishingly  low  prices,  but  never  below  actual  cost. 
The  second  floor  is  a  library  and  reading-room,  free  to  all 
respectable  inhabitants  of  St.  Oswald's  parish.  Above 
the  library  is  a  well-appointed  gymnasium,  to  which  all 
my  tenants  are  furnished  free  tickets,  and  which  is  largely 
patronized  by  both  sexes  at  different  hours  of  the  day. 
The  luxuriant  bath  rooms,  with  which  it  is  provided, 
have  been  a  very  great  attraction  both  winter  and  sum 
mer.  The  fourth  story  of  the  Institute  is  a  lecture  hall, 
which  is  lent  free  of  charge  at  all  times  to  those  having 
the  good  of  the  people  at  heart  and  willing  to  furnish 
them  with  a  programme  of  wholesome  entertainment  or 
useful  information.  The  expenses  of  the  Institute  were 
considerable,  entailing  the  salary  of  a  manager  as  well  as 
the  wages  of  caretaker  and  scrubwoman,  but  this  pro 
vided  places  for  some  of  our  destitute  people  of  the  par 
ish,  and  the  benefits  to  the  neighborhood  were  great  be 
yond  all  proportion  to  the  cost. 

At  the  end  of  four  years  the  streets  in  the  immediate 
vicinity  of  St.  Oswald's  church  were  all  rebuilt  and  pre 
sented  a  very  different  appearance  from  that  which 


DARKEST   LONDON.  41 

greeted  me  on  my  first  visit  to  the  rector.  It  was  doubt 
less  more  of  a  transformation  than  a  reformation,  as  that 
gentleman  himself  had  said,  but  I  am  sure  that  he 
was  delighted  with  the  change,  and  glad  to  feel  that 
in  his  declining  years  he  could  devote  himself  more  ex 
clusively  to  the  proper  work  of  the  church  and  leave  the 
slumming  largely  in  the  hands  of  my  energetic  little 
staff.  The  church  was  now  filled  at  every  service  by  a 
large  congregation  of  respectable  worshipers,  whose  spir 
itual  wants  required  all  of  the  rector's  care  and  the 
curate's  as  well.  The  edifice  itself  had  been  improved 
by  the  execution  of  some  much-needed  repairs  and  the 
addition  of  a  fine  stained-glass  window  and  a  new  pulpit 
and  reading-desk,  and  the  rector's  house  had  been  en 
tirely  rebuilt  at  my  expense  in  order  that  it  might  be  in 
keeping  with  its  improved  surroundings  and  afford  to 
its  occupant  a  little  more  of  the  bodily  comfort  of  which 
he  had  formerly  been  too  negligent. 

I  had  now  spent  about  half  my  fortune,  and,  although 
the  results  were  meager  in  comparison  with  the  hopes 
I  entertained  on  beginning  the  crusade,  I  never  regretted 
what  I  had  done  nor  entertained  the  idea  of  withdrawing 
from  the  field.  At  the  same  time  I  resolved  to  pause  for 
a  time  in  my  expenditures  and  for  the  present  devote 
only  my  surplus  income  to  the  acquirement  and  rebuild 
ing  of  lands  and  buildings.  The  rents  of  the  tenements, 
although  not  always  regularly  paid,  amounted  to  a  con 
siderable  sum  over  and  above  the  expense  of  keeping 
them  in  repair — sufficient,  in  fact,  to  cover  all  the  ordi 
nary  expenses  of  our  missionary  enterprise. 

I  had  now  succeeded  in  getting  everything  into  such 
perfect  working  order  that  my  own  presence  was  not  an 
absolute  necessity  and  I  spent  more  time  at  Chingford 
than  I  had  done  at  the  beginning,  and  early  in  the  fifth 


42  IONIA. 

summer  I  took  a  vacation  of  several  weeks'  duration, 
which  I  spent  with  my  mother  among  the  lakes  and 
mountains  of  Cumberland  and  the  Scottish  highlands. 


CHAPTER  III. 
A  VISITOR"  FROM  ANOTHER  WORLD. 

Returning  from  my  vacation,  I  found  that  my  manager 
had  given  the  use  of  Musgrave  Hall  for  a  meeting  to 
be  presided  over  by  a  certain  Mr.  Septimus  Jones,  of 
which  the  object,  as  announced  in  handbills  widely  cir 
culated,  was  to  consider  "The  condition  of  the  working 
classes  in  England." 

I  had  no  personal  acquaintance  with  this  Mr.  Jones, 
but  knew  him  by  reputation  as  a  noisy  and  mischievous 
demagogue.  I  regretted  that  our  hall  should  have  been 
lent  for  such  a  meeting  and  intimated  as  much  to  the 
manager  of  the  Institute,  but  he  explained  that  the  man 
was  unknown  to  him,  but  came  well  recommended,  and, 
being  a  glib  talker,  had  persuaded  him  that  his  views 
were  entirely  in  sympathy  with  ours.  I  said  that  we 
must  make  a  point  of  being  present  at  the  meeting  and 
find  out  about  that  for  ourselves. 

I  was  early  on  hand  on  the  appointed  evening  and 
had  to  undergo  the  penance  of  shaking  hands  with  the 
chairman  and  one  or  two  of  his  clique.  They  invited 
me  to  sit  with  them  in  the  front  row,  but  I  declined  and 
took  my  seat  at  the  back  of  the  platform,  where  I  could 
see  and  hear  everything  without  being  too  much  in  evi 
dence  myself.  The  hall  was  soon  filled,  and,  although 
I  recognized  a  goodly  number  of  our  own  people,  the 
majority  were  entire  strangers  and  among  them  a  great 


A  VISITOR  FROM  ANOTHER  WORLD.  43 

many  appeared  to  be  foreigners — seedy-looking,  wild- 
eyed  men,  whom  I  took  to  be  anarchists  from  various 
parts  of  the  continent. 

The  chairman  opened  the  meeting  by  saying  that  he 
would  make  a  short  statement  of  the  objects  for  which 
they  were  assembled  together.  He  spoke  rapidly  for 
about  half  an  hour,  and  his  command  of  the  English  lan 
guage  (always  excepting  the  letter  H)  proved  that  he 
had  some  claim  to  the  title  of  'The  people's  orator,"  by 
which  he  was  sometimes  known.  The  burden  of  his 
speech  was  that,  while  the  working  people  produced  all 
the  wealth  of  the  country,  the  possession  and  enjoyment 
of  it  were  in  other  hands.  He  denounced  the  capitalists, 
the  nobility  and  the  government  as  being  banded  together 
for  the  oppression  and  degradation  of  the  honest  poor, 
who,  he  said,  were  little  better  than  slaves.  But  slavery 
was  doomed  the  world  over.  The  slavery  of  the  blacks 
had  been  overthrown  in  America  and  he  ventured  to  pre 
dict  that  the  slavery  of  the  whites  would  be  terminated 
at  no  distant  day  in  Great  Britain,  for  the  truth  would 
make  them  free,  and  he  was  there  to  proclaim  the  truth 
that  all  men  were  entitled  to  the  product  of  the  labor  of 
their  hands  and  that,  while  they  had  the  right  to  all  the 
good  things  of  life,  they  had  also  the  might  to  seize  them. 
They  were  many  and  their  oppressors  were  few,  and  so 
soon  as  they  recognized  the  justice  of  their  claims  and 
the  strength  which  union  could  put  into  their  hands,  the 
working  classes  would  sweep  away  with  irresistible  force 
the  combination  of  tyranny  and  greed  which  had  for  un 
told  centuries  ground  them  under  its  iron  heeL-^  Loud 
applause  followed  the  conclusion  of  his  speech,  but  I  was 
glad  to  see  that  our  own  people  did  not  join  very  heartily 
in  the  cheering  and  hand-clapping,  but  that  most  of  the 


44  IONIA. 

noise  was  made  by  men  whom  I  knew  to  be  strangers 
in  the  district. 

Three  or  four  of  the  chairman's  friends  spoke  after 
him,  and  what  they  lacked  in  eloquence  was  made 
up  in  strong  denunciation  of  their  betters,  each  of 
them  being  evidently  determined  to  go  beyond  the  chair 
man  himself  in  bitter  invective  and  wholesale  charges  of 
fraud  and  dishonesty  on  the  part  of  the  upper  classes. 
I  felt  my  face  burn  with  indignation  at  the  way  in  which 
my  father's  hall  had  been  abused  by  such  demagogues, 
and  I  could  not  make  up  my  mind  whether  to  protest 
against  the  sentiments  expressed  by  rising  and  leaving 
the  hall  or  to  sit  still  in  my  chair  and  see  the  wretched 
business  through  to  the  end.  One  thing  I  was  resolved 
upon  at  all  events  and  that  was  that  the  manager  of  the 
Institute  must  in  future  obtain  either  my  own  consent 
or  that  of  the  rector  to  granting  the  use  of  the  hall  to 
outside  parties.  At  about  ten  o'clock  in  the  evening  the 
fire  of  the  professional  agitators  seemed  to  have  burned 
itself  out,  and  the  chairman  invited  any  person  from  the 
body  of  the  hall  to  come  up  to  the  platform  and  speak 
on  the  subject  before  the  meeting.  As  no  one  rose  he 
repeated  the  invitation  and  said  that  it  was  intended  to 
include  all  present,  and  especially  if  there  happened  to 
be  any  stranger  present  who,  although  not  an  English 
man,  yet  felt  sympathy  with  the  sorrows  of  the  English 
poor  and  wished  to  speak,  he  promised  him  a  fair  and 
candid  hearing.  Upon  this  some  one  rose  in  the  center  of 
the  hall  and  advanced  towards  the  platform.  I  could 
not  see  him  at  first,  but  felt  sure  that  we  were  about  to 
hear  a  tirade  from  some  exiled  nihilist  from  St.  Peters 
burg  or  anarchist  from  Paris,  which  was  doubtless  what 
the  chairman  anticipated,  but  if  it  were  so  he  was  doomed 
to  a  great  disappointment. 


A  VISITOR  FROM  ANOTHER  WORLD.  45 

As  the  stranger  mounted  the  platform  I  perceived  that 
we  had  to  do  with  one  who  belonged  to  a  different  world 
from  those  who  had  hitherto  spoken,  for  at  a  glance  one 
could  see  that  he  was  a  gentleman.  But  that  was  not  the 
thought  which  first  came  uppermost  in  my  mind,  for  as 
soon  as  he  came  fairly  into  view  my  involuntary  exclama 
tion  was,  "Here  is  a  man."  His  head  was  the  head  of 
Jove;  a  broad  forehead  with  massive  brows,  under  which 
shone  a  pair  of  lustrous  black  eyes ;  a  straight,  powerful 
nose;  hair  of  iron  gray,  like  his  full  beard,  which  was  of 
moderate  length  and  carefully  trimmed;  a  deep  chest  and 
broad  shoulders,  with  a  figure  straight  and  perfectly  pro 
portioned,  made  up  an  ensemble  which  would  have  at 
tracted  attention  anywhere.  My  interest  was  awakened 
at  once  and  I  listened  intently  to  hear  what  he  would 
say. 

His  voice  was  deep  and  resonant,  and  at  his  first 
words  a  hush  fell  upon  the  audience,  who  seemed  spell 
bound  by  his  grand  personality.  He  began  by  saying 
that  he  had  not  come  to  the  meeting  with  any  intention 
to  speak, but  that  the  chairman's  urgent  invitation  seemed 
to  apply  particularly  to  him  and  he  felt  it  would  be  in 
excusable  for  him  in  the  circumstances  to  remain  silent. 
He  went  on  to  speak  of  the  sorrowful  lot  of  a  child  born 
to  poverty  in  a  large  city;  of  the  depressing  moral  and 
physical  conditions  which  hemmed  him  in  and  prevented 
his  development;  of  his  multiplied  privation  and  his 
meager  and  sordid  pleasures;  of  the  temptations  to  vice 
and  crime,  the  lack  of  education  which  dwarfed  his  mind 
and  the  lack  of  fresh  air  and  wholesome  food  which 
dwarfed  his  body.  He  traced  the  course  of  such  a  child 
to  manhood  and  old  age  and  premature  death  in  such 
moving  terms  that  I  felt  the  tears  spring  to  my  eyes, 
and  I  saw  that  most  of  the  women  and  many  of  the  men 


46  IONIA. 

in  the  audience  were  quietly  weeping.  But  when  he 
came  to  the  remedy  for  the  unfortunate  state  of  things 
he  had  so  vividly  portrayed  and  began  to  talk  to  them  of 
temperance,  chastity,  self-denial  and  thrift,  the  rougher 
sort  showed  signs  of  impatience,  shuffling  their  feet  and 
coughing  loudly,  and  when  they  saw  that  their  disappro 
bation  instead  of  discouraging  the  orator,  only  caused 
him  to  speak  more  earnestly  and  emphatically  on  the  ne 
cessity  of  raising  themselves  up  by  their  own  efforts,  in 
place  of  trying  to  drag  others  down  to  their  level,  they 
began  to  mutter  and  to  hiss.  One  shouted  "Aristocrat," 
another  "Spy."  Many  of  the  more  disreputable-looking 
characters  in  the  crowd  rose  to  their  feet  and  raised  a 
clamor  which  compelled  the  speaker  to  pause,  while 
threats  of  rough  treatment  were  freely  indulged  in. 

He  was  not  to  be  coerced,  however,  but  turned  to 
the  chairman  to  ask  if  it  was  not  possible  for  him  to  ob 
tain  a  hearing.  Mr.  Jones  could  not,  of  course,  refuse 
this  request,  and,  rising  and  holding  out  his  right  hand, 
was  able  to  secure  a  moment's  cessation  of  the  tumult 
when  he  pointed  out  that  the  gentleman  was  on  the  plat 
form  by  his  special  invitation  and  that,  as  Englishmen, 
they  ought  to  allow  even  an  antagonist  fair  play  and  that 
he  hoped  they  would  hear  him  quietly  to  the  end.  He 
had  no  sooner  sat  down,  however,  than  the  hubbub  began 
again,  and  after  waiting  for  a  minute  or  two  more  the 
stranger  bowed  to  the  chairman  and  walked  slowly  down 
the  platform  steps  and  through  the  hall  to  the  door. 
Those  who  had  been  making  the  greatest  disturbance 
turned  and  glared  at  him  as  he  passed,  evidently  sorry  to 
see  him  retire  without  molestation,  but  there  was  some 
thing  in  his  look  and  dauntless  bearing  which  warned 
them  to  refrain  from  further  insult,  and  when  he  reached 
the  hall  door  no  one  else  had  moved  from  his  place. 


A  VISITOR  FROM  ANOTHER  WORLD.  47 

Before  he  had  passed  out  of  sight,  I  started  up  and 
quickly  followed  after  him,  for  I  felt  to  some  extent  re 
sponsible  for  the  way  in  which  he  had  been  treated  and 
would  have  been  extremely  sorry  to  let  him  go  without 
explanation  or  apology.  Catching  up  with  him  just  as 
he  reached  the  street,  I  explained  to  him  that,  while  I  was 
the  owner  of  the  hall  in  which  he  had  been  so  grossly 
insulted,  the  meeting  had  been  arranged  without  my  con 
sent  and  wishes,  in  my  absence,  and  yet  I  could  hardly 
forgive  myself  for  being  indirectly  responsible  for  such 
outrageous  treatment  of  a  stranger,  and  especially  of  a 
gentleman  who  had  given  utterance  to  such  noble  senti 
ments  as  we  had  just  heard  from  his  lips.  I  would  have 
said  more,  but  he  stopped  me,  saying: 

"Mr.  Musgrave,  not  another  word  of  apology.  There 
is  no  one  to  blame  but  myself.  I  knew  that  there  were 
many  men  in  the  hall  whose  lives  are  spent  in  rebellion 
against  established  institutions  and  who  would  not  listen 
to  reason,  and  therefore  I  should  have  remained  silent. 
But  there  is  no  harm  done  at  all;  on  the  contrary,  it 
has  given  me  the  opportunity  of  meeting  you,  which  I 
sincerely  desired,  for  I  have  heard  much  of  the  great 
work  you  have  done  here  and  should  be  very  glad  to 
have  a  talk  with  you  about  it  at  any  time  that  would  suit 
your  convenience.  My  name  is  Delphion,  and  I  am  stay 
ing  at  present  at  the  Hotel  Imperial." 

I  held  out  my  hand,  which  he  grasped  with  cordial 
pressure,  while  I  assured  him  that  it  gave  me  very  great 
pleasure  to  meet  him,  and  added  that  I  had  a  carriage 
waiting,  and  if  he  had  an  hour  to  spare  I  should  be  de 
lighted  to  have  him  come  with  me  to  my  rooms  in  Hood- 
well  street,  where  we  might  have  a  quiet  little  chat  over 
a  glass  of  wine  and  a  cigar.  He  said  that  nothing  would 
please  him  better,  so  we  got  into  the  carriage  together 


48  IONIA. 

and  in  a  few  minutes  we  cleared  the  noisy  streets  of  the 
East  End  and  were  bowling  rapidly  over  the  asphalt 
pavements  of  the  city. 

Arrived  at  our  destination,  I  led  the  way  to  my  sitting- 
room,  where  I  had  a  large  bay  window  commanding  a  fine 
view  of  the  Thames.  On  this  particular  evening  the  scene 
was  unusually  fine,  for  the  moon  was  full  and  the  sky 
clear,  and  the  lights  on  the  embankment  and  the  vessels 
in  the  river  made  up  a  very  beautiful  picture.  My  manser 
vant  having  placed  cigars  and  a  bottle  of  my  best  Chateau 
Vergniaux  before  us,  we  settled  ourselves  in  our  chairs 
fronting  the  window  and  resumed  our  talk,  which  had 
been  somewhat  disjointed  as  we  rattled  through  the 
streets  in  the  carriage.  My  guest  as  yet  had  said  nothing 
about  himself,  but  plied  me  with  questions  in  regard  to 
all  that  I  had  done  in  St.  Oswald's  and  the  neighboring 
district,  proving  himself  a  very  appreciative  listener. 
Having  heard  my  account  of  the  four  years'  work  he  nat 
urally  inquired  how  it  was  that  I  had  conceived  the  idea 
of  devoting  myself  to  the  regeneration  of  the  lapsed 
classes  and  I  was  led  on  to  talk  of  the  scenes  of  my  child 
hood  and  the  good  work  my  mother  had  accomplished 
in  our  own  village.  It  was  now  nearly  midnight  and  Mr. 
Delphion  rose  to  go,  saying  that  he  felt  very  much  in 
terested  in  all  that  I  had  related  to  him,  and  hoping  that 
our  acquaintance  might  ripen  into  friendship,  asked  me 
to  dine  with  him  at  his  hotel  the  next  day.  I  happened 
to  have  an  engagement  for  that  date,  but  accepted  for  the 
day  following,  so  he  took  a  card  from  his  pocketbook, 
wrote  the  name  of  his  hotel  on  the  bottom  of  it  and 
handed  it  to  me,  bidding  me  a  cordial  good-night.  As 
soon  as  he  was  gone  I  looked  at  the  card  in  my  hand, 
on  which  was  imprinted  in  handsomely  engraved  letters: 


A  VISITOR  FROM  ANOTHER  WORLD.  49 

JASON  DELPHION 

Hooghley  Diamond  Co., 
Calcutta. 

What  a  peculiar  man!  What  could  be  his  nationality? 
The  name  had  a  suggestion  of  Greek  in  it,  but  the  Greeks 
produced  no  such  men  nowadays.  I  felt  much  puzzled 
and  interested  in  my  new  acquaintance.  Physically  and 
mentally  he  seemed  superior  to  any  man  I  had  ever  met 
and  I  felt  extremely  curious  to  know  a  little  more  about 
him,  but  speculation  was  useless  and  doubtless  he  would 
take  me,  into  his  confidence  in  good  time.  I  had  been 
remarkably  frank  with  him,  but  no  one  could  look  into 
his  face  without  trusting  him  implicitly,  and  I  felt  as  if 
I  had  gained  a  friend  for  life. 

At  the  hour  appointed  I  arrived  at  the  Hotel  Imperial, 
where  I  found  my  friend  occupying  very  pleasant  quar 
ters;  having  a  suite  of  rooms  which  must  have  been  the 
best  in  the  famous  hostelry.  In  one  of  these  dinner  was 
served,  and  such  a  dinner  as  caused  me  to  conclude  that 
the  diamond  business  must  be  a  prosperous  one  and  my 
host  no  mean  judge  of  good  living.  Yet  he  ate  sparingly 
and  of  few  dishes,  and  drank  very  moderately  of  the  ex 
cellent  wines  which  he  had  provided.  He  proved  himself 
an  excellent  host,  and  whereas  on  our  first  meeting  he 
had  allowed  me  to  do  most  of  the  talking,  the  positions 
were  now  reversed  and  I  found  that  he  could  speak  as 
well  as  listen.  Indeed  his  conversation  proved  here  so 
entertaining  that  when  we  left  the  dinner  table  I  was 
surprised  to  find  that  nearly  an  hour  and  a  half  had 
elapsed  since  we  had  sat  down  to  it.  Having  learned 
from  me  that  I  had  traveled  through  Europe  and  the 
countries  bordering  on  the  Levant,  he  led  the  conversa- 


50  IONIA. 

tion  in  the  direction  of  the  various  places  of  interest  which 
I  had  visited,  but  whereas  I  had  merely  skimmed  over  the 
surface  of  things,  he  appeared  to  have  made  a  thorough 
study  of  everything  that  could  interest  a  student  or  an 
amateur  in  art.  He  not  only  knew  all  the  picture  gal 
leries  in  Europe,  but  appeared  to  be  familiar  with  every 
picture  in  them  and  knew  the  history  of  all  the  great  paint 
ers  down  to  the  smallest  detail.  In  architecture  he  was 
past  master.  I  spoke  of  some  churches  and  cathedrals 
which  had  interested  me  and  he  entered  into  details  of  the 
different  styles  of  architecture,  illustrated  by  description 
of  ruins  and  chapels  in  out-of-the-way  corners  of  Europe 
which  would  have  made  one  suppose  that  he  had  spent 
all  his  life  in  studying  them.  Reference  was  made  to  the 
pyramids  and  the  ruins  of  Baalbec,  and  it  appeared  that 
he  had  examined  these  with  the  skill  and  diligence  of  an 
archaeologist.  He  had  theories  of  his  own  in  regard  to 
the  dates  of  each  of  these  ancient  monuments,  and  in 
fifteen  minutes  it  seemed  to  me  that  I  learned  more  from 
him  of  the  history  of  Egypt  and  Syria  than  I  could  have 
picked  up  by  reading  whole  volumes  of  books. 

Surprised  at  his  fluent  talk  on  such  various  subjects,  I 
changed  the  theme  again  and  again,  but  it  made  not  the 
slightest  difference;  there  seemed  to  be  no  subject  which 
he  had  not  mastered.  I  tried  him  on  politics,  but  found 
he  knew  far  more  of  the  present  condition  of  every  Euro 
pean  country  than  I  did  about  England.  I  touched  upon 
history,  which  was  my  own  special  study,  but  in  this  also 
I  had  to  own  that  he  was  easily  my  master.  And  withal 
there  was  no  ostentation  about  all  this  encyclopedic 
knowledge.  He  talked  in  an  easy,  pleasant  way  about 
everything,  never  taking  for  granted  that  I  knew  less 
than  he,  but  bringing  up  the  various  points  and  incidents 
as  if  the  subject  in  hand  were  equally  familiar  to  both  of 


A  VISITOR  FROM  ANOTHER  WORLD.  51 

us.  At  last  I  gave  up  the  attempt  to  sound  the  depths  of 
his  knowledge  and  lay  back  in  my  chair  and  resigned  my 
self  to  the  enjoyment  of  listening,  for  whatever  subject 
he  touched  upon  seemed  to  be  equally  interesting.  Per 
ceiving  my  silence,  he  said : 

"But  I  am  afraid  I  bore  you  by  talking  too  much." 

"No,"  I  replied,  "on  the  contrary,  you  both  enter 
tain  and  instruct  me,  and  I  have  seldom  passed  an  even 
ing  so  pleasantly  in  my  life  and  I  hope  it  will  not  be  the 
last  we  shall  spend  together." 

"Well,"  said  he,  "it  will  not  be  my  fault  if  we  do  not 
see  more  of  each  other.  The  other  night  you  were  my 
host  and  you  entertained  me  as  I  have  endeavored  to 
entertain  you,  and  I  am  afraid  you  thought  me  rather  in 
quisitive  in  regard  to  your  personal  history.  You  told  me 
much  of  yourself  and  your  family,  whilst  I  have  com 
municated  to  you  nothing  of  my  own  antecedents,  and, 
to  tell  you  the  truth,  I  am  not  at  liberty  to  do  so  at  pres 
ent,  but  some  day  I  may  have  that  privilege,  and  in  that 
case  I  shall  have  much  pleasure  in  telling  you  all  about 
myself  and  my  people." 

"I  assure  you,"  said  I,  "that  I  did  not  at  all  resent 
your  friendly  interest  in  my  affairs,  and  I  have  no  wish  to 
learn  more  about  you  than  you  wish  to  impart.  I  am 
sure  you  are  a  good  man  and  one  of  the  most  learned 
ever  I  met.  There  is  only  one  thing  I  am  curious  about 
and  that  is  your  nationality,  but  I  shall  ask  no  questions 
about  that  or  anything  whatever  that  concerns  you.  I 
am  delighted  to  have  met  you  and  trust  we  shall  be  fast 
friends." 

"I  am  sure  of  it,"  said  he,  "but  in  regard  to  my  na 
tionality  there  need  be  no  reserve.  I  am  a  Greek." 

"A  Greek!  I  should  have  taken  you  for  an  ancient 
Greek." 


52  IONIA. 

"More  ancient,  perhaps,  than  you  imagine,  but  why 
do  you  say  so?" 

"Because  in  your  personal  appearance  and  your  great 
powers  of  mind  you  seem  more  like  one  of  the  wonderful 
race  which  turned  back  the  tide  of  Persian  invasion  from 
Europe  and  leavened  the  world  with  intellectual  force, 
than  of  their  modern  representatives,  who  play  so  small 
a  part  on  the  world's  stage." 

"You  flatter  me  very  much,"  said  he,  "but  it  may  be 
in  my  power  some  day  to  introduce  you  to  many  of  my 
countrymen  whom  you  will  find  worthy  to  rank  with 
Homer  or  Pericles  or  Phidias." 

This  made  me  feel  more  curious  than  ever  regarding 
the  antecedents  of  my  new  friend,  but  after  what  had 
passed  I  could  do  nothing  but  wait  until  he  saw  fit  to 
tell  me  more  about  himself.  He  promised  to  meet  me 
at  the  Musgrave  Institute  on  the  following  day,  and  from 
that  time  forward  he  was  a  frequent  visitor  there  and  took 
much  interest  in  all  that  was  going  on,  making  from  time 
to  time  very  pertinent  suggestions,  which  we  adopted 
with  good  results.  He  was  so  moved  with  compassion  by 
the  tales  of  suffering  and  distress  which  my  lieutenants 
brought  in  that  he  asked  as  a  personal  favor  to  be  allowed 
to  render  pecuniary  assistance  in  certain  cases,  requests 
which  I  could  not  well  refuse,  and  in  these  instances  he 
spared  neither  time  nor  expense  in  relieving  the  suffer 
ers  and  placing  them  in  a  position  to  recover  from  their 
misfortunes.  He  spent  many  hours  with  us  and  when 
business  kept  him  away  for  any  length  of  time  I  missed 
him  more  than  I  could  have  thought  possible. 

We  were  both  seated  one  day  in  my  private  office  at 
the  Institute,  talking,  as  usual,  of  the  people  of  the  dis 
trict  and  the  efforts  being  made  for  their  redemption. 
I  was  feeling  rather  despondent  and  confessed  to  him 


A  VISITOR  FROM  ANOTHER  WORLD.  53 

that  the  enthusiasm  with  which  I  had  entered  upon  the 
work  had  become  chilled  by  the  amount  of  callous  in 
difference  with  which  it  was  viewed  by  those  whom 
we  intended  to  help  and  restore  to  respectability  and 
virtue,  and  I  asked  him  to  give  me  his  unreserved  opin 
ion  of  the  possibility  of  saving  the  masses  from  their 
misery  on  the  plan  which  I  had  adopted  or  by  any  other 
conceivable  way. 

He  was  silent  for  a  little  while  and  then  said:  "You 
have  no  reason  to  regret  what  you  have  done,  although 
it  has  not  come  up  to  the  ardent  hopes  which  your  youth 
and  inexperience  led  you  to  indulge.  On  the  contrary, 
you  have  every  reason  to  congratulate  yourself  on  the 
good  that  has  been  accomplished  by  your  means.  You 
have  provided  comfortable  homes  for  thousands  of 
worthy  people  who  would  otherwise  have  had  to  endure 
much  discomfort  or  misery.  You  have  put  it  into  their 
power  to  live  with  some  regard  to  the  laws  of  health 
and  given  some  attention  to  the  cultivation  of  their 
minds.  This  alone  is  worth  all  the  money  it  has  cost, 
but  you  have  done  more.  You  have  saved  scores  of 
people  from  giving  way  to  the  seductions  of  vice  and 
intemperance,  and  I  am  sure  that  many  a  young  person 
and  many  widows  and  mothers  in  this  district  have  cause 
to  regard  you  as  their  benefactor,  and  many  a  child  will 
grow  up  into  healthy,  self-respecting  manhood  and 
womanhood  who  but  for  you  would  have  succumbed  to 
the  influences  of  poverty  and  privation  and  disease. 
Therefore  I  say  that  you  should  not  be  at  all  discouraged, 
but  rather  be  glad  that  you  had  the  means  and  the  dis 
position  to  help  so  many  of  the  unfortunate.  If  the 
larger  measure  of  success  which  you  once  expected  seems 
beyond  your  power  it  is  not  you  who  are  at  fault,  but 
rather  the  whole  framework  of  society.  Europe  calls 


54  IONIA. 

itself  civilized,  but  what  a  wretched  failure  its  civiliza 
tion  appears  when  we  reflect  that  the  masses  of  the  peo 
ple  in  all  the  countries  'you  know  of  are  steeped  in 
ignorance  and  poverty,  and  are  engaged  almost  from 
the  cradle  to  the  grave  in  a  struggle  for  mere  exist 
ence,  and  have  neither  time  nor  means  to  enjoy  the 
bounties  of  nature  or  the  treasures  of  intellect  and  art 
which  human  genius  has  created. 

"We  hear  a  great  deal  about  human  progress,  and  op 
timists  endeavor  to  show  that  mankind  is  in  the  enjoy 
ment  of  a  high  degree  of  happiness  by  pointing  out  the 
miseries  of  previous  ages  in  comparison  with  the  free 
dom  and  comfort  of  our  own.  Enjoying,  as  a  rule,  a  con 
siderable  share  of  the  benefits  which  wealth  insures, 
they  selfishly  shut  their  eyes  to  the  hideous  inequalities 
of  its  distribution  and  try  to  make  themselves  believe  that 
the  proletariat  ought  to  be  content  with  things  as  they 
are,  merely  because  in  former  times  it  can  be  proved  that 
they  were  worse.  But  from  the  standpoint  of  the  toiling 
millions  the  situation  must  seem  very  far  from  satisfac 
tory.  The  many  endure  that  the  few  may  enjoy,  and  the 
few  spend  their  lives  for  the  most  part  in  reaching  out 
for  gewgaws  and  baubles,  social  distinctions,  glory  and 
power,  never  reflecting  that  they  live  on  sleeping  vol 
canoes  which  may  at  any  time  burst  forth  and  over 
whelm  them. 

"To  my  mind,  the  signs  of  the  time  seem  to 
presage  a  plunge  backward  into  anarchy  and  bar 
barism  rather  than  a  further  advance  in  culture  and 
civilization.  Your  modern  society  is  like  a  creature  hav 
ing  the  mind  of  a  child  combined  with  the  physical 
strength  of  a  giant.  It  has  made  great  strides  towards 
the  knowledge  of  the  secrets  of  nature,  but  has  not  at 
tained  the  wisdom  necessary  to  a  proper  use  of  its 


A  VISITOR  FROM  ANOTHER  WORLD.  55 

discoveries.  It  is  rapidly  penetrating  the  mysteries  of  <\*e/ 
electricity;  the  power  of  steam  has  added  tenfold  to  its 
might;  chemistry  has  revealed  many  of  its  hidden  won 
ders,  and  in  dynamite  and  nitro-glycerine  has  disclosed 
forces  which  are  terrible  to  contemplate  in  the  hand  of 
malice  and  ignorance.  In  other  directions  the  most  in 
genious  minds  are  working  out  problems  which  will 
evolve  new  powers  for  good  and  evil  which  as  yet  are 
hardly  realized.  Meantime  the  proletariat  is  becoming 
more  and  more  dissatisfied  with  the  unequal  and  unjust 
apportionment  of  the  benefits  which  science  and  inven 
tion  have  created.  Dynamite  outrages  have  occurred 
in  almost  every  country  in  Europe  and  are  the  terror  of 
its  ruling  powers.  In  a  few  years  at  most  another  great 
invention  will  be  added  to  the  vaunted  triumphs  of  the 
human  mind.  Men  will  construct  ships  which  will  nav 
igate  the  air  as  safely  and  much  more  swiftly  than  any 
that  sail  the  ocean.  Think  what  a  terrible  opportunity 
that  would  give  to  the  anarchist  and  the  criminal.  How 
would  your  soldiers  or  your  police  guard  the  heights  and 
depths  of  the  atmosphere?  How  would  you  prevent 
the  plotter  against  the  existing  order  of  things  from 
stealing  along  in  his  airship  on  a  dark  or  foggy  night 
and  dropping  a  hundred  pounds  of  dynamite  over  the 
parliament  house  at  Westminster  or  the  palace  of  the 
czar  at  St.  Petersburg  and  shattering  at  one  blow  the 
whole  machinery  of  the  government?  Think  what  a 
reign  of  terror  such  dynamite  outrages  as  that  would 
inaugurate!  What  frantic  efforts  would  be  made  to 
stamp  out  disaffection!  Wholesale  reprisals  would  be 
the  order  of  the  day,  and  the  innocent,  in  all  probability, 
would  be  confounded  with  the  guilty;  liberty  would 
come  to  an  end  and  despotism  and  anarchy  divide  the 
field. 


56  IONIA. 

"On  the  other  hand,  private  malice  would  adopt  the 
same  fiendish  means  of  satisfying  its  ends,  and  no  man 
could  retire  to  rest  at  night  without  feeling  that  lie 
might  be  blown  to  destruction  with  all  his  family  be 
fore  morning.  Take  the  case  of  a  strike  in -one  of  the 
large  industries  of  this  country.  Suppose  the  work 
men  reduced  to  starvation  and  their  children  crying  in 
vain  for  bread.  Would  not  the  temptation  to  wreak 
vengeance  on  a  selfish  and  grasping  employer,  when 
vengeance  would  be  so  sure  and  swift,  be  too  much  for 
the  scruples  of  the  ignorant,  and,  perhaps,  wronged  and 
oppressed  laborers?" 

"Undoubtedly,  but  the  man  who  cannot  buy  bread 
will  not  be  able  to  provide  himself  with  an  airship." 

"True  enough,  but  those  who  foment  strikes  are  never 
without  means,  and  past  experience  shows  that  they  do 
not  stop  at  violence  or  crime  to  gain  their  ends. 

"I  should  be  glad  to  believe  that  the  dangers  which  I 
have  pictured  are  wholly  imaginary,  but  they  appear 
to  me  to  be  inevitable.  Your  philosophers  who  proclaim 
the  belief  that  the  world  has  at  last  entered  upon  a  path 
of  continuous  progress,  with  the  "lamp  of  science  to 
illumine  its  path  and  preserve  it  from  the  pitfalls  and 
follies  of  past  ages,  are  like  the  ostrich  burying  its  head 
in  the  sand  and  persuading  itself  that  there  is  no  danger 
because  it  is  unable  to  see  it.  If  there  were  many  rich 
men  like  you  the  case  would  be  different,  but  for  the 
most  part  those  who  are  well-to-do  are  utterly  indifferent 
to  the  wrongs  and  sufferings  of  those  who  are  beneath 
them  and  their  selfishness  may  well  bring  about  the 
utter  ruin  of  society. 

"Assuming  that  the  present  state  of  European  civili 
zation  expresses  the  highest  point  of  development  yet 
reached  by  the  human  race,  it  is  easy  to  imagine 


A  VISITOR  FROM  ANOTHER  WORLD.  57 


irorhT] 
it  to  ' 


Mother  Nature  taking  her  creature  man  to  task  in  some 
such  fashion  as  this: 

"  'I  spent  thousands  of  ages  in  preparing  this  world 
for  your  habitation,  slowly  but  surely  adapting 
supply  your  every  want;  its  crust  is  stored  with  marble 
and  stone,  with  coal  and  iron  and  all  useful  minerals 
in  due  proportion.  I  have  covered  its  surface  with  rich 
soils  and  abundant  vegetation;  its  animals  and  plants 
have  been  evolved  from  poor  beginnings  and  brought 
with  infinite  labor  to  the  variety  and  perfection  which 
you  find  so  admirably  suited  to  your  desires.  I  created 
the  sea  to  be  the  highway  of  your  commerce  and  have 
filled  it  with  many  kinds  of  creatures  for  your  food.  I 
have  inclosed  all  with  a  soft  mantle  of  air  which  tempers 
and  reveals  the  glory  of  sun,  moon  and  stars,  and  con 
veys  refreshing  showers  to  the  thirsty  ground;  but  on 
you  I  have  lavished  my  most  unwearying  efforts.  I  have 
nursed  and  fostered  you  through  infinite  dangers  and 
made  you  lord  and  ruler  of  all.  I  have  guarded  your 
childhood  and  brought  you  through  endless  trials  not 
only  unscathed  but  always  stronger  and  better  fitted  for 
the  proud  position  destined  for  you.  And  I  have  done 
all  this  with  the  rough  tools  at  my  command — blind 
forces  you  call  them — working  only  in  direct  lines  and 
crushing  out  remorselessly  and  inevitably  whatever  fails 
to  conform  to  their  inexorable  laws;  irresistible  in  their 
onward  march  and  patient  of  results,  for  they  have  all 
eternity  for  their  work.  But  with  you  it  is  different; 
you  belong  to  fleeting  time;  now  is  the  day  of  your 
opportunity  and  it  is  for  you  to  take  advantage  of  it. 
You  are  a  child  no  longer;  you  are  full  grown.  I  have 
given  you  an  eye  to  see,  a  hand  to  work  and  a  brain  to 
contrive  and  design.  I  have  done  a  mother's  part  by 
you  and  you  are  no  longer  in  leading  strings.  Take 


58  IONIA. 

the  reins  into  your  own  hands  and  assume  direction  of 
the  work  which  I  have  hitherto  done  for  you.  I  am 
ready  to  aid  you  still:  my  almighty  forces  will  help  you 
at  every  step  if  you  but  move  in  the  right  direction.  But 
do  not  imagine  that 'you  are  indispensable  to  me.  Al 
though  I  have  done  so  much  for  you  yet  your  failure 
would  not  move  me.  I  have  other  worlds  to  work  in; 
infinite  space  is  rilled  with  suns  and  planets,  and  if  you 
fail  I  have  other  children  who  will  succeed.  I  have  pre 
pared  and  am  preparing  millions  of  far-off  worlds  for 
them,  and  could  you  visit  these  with  me  you  would  say 
of  some,  'Surely  this  is  paradise,'  and  of  others,  'Truly 
this  is  little  better  than  hell.'  And  I  should  bid  you  take 
warning,  for  either  fate  is  in  store  for  you,  and  it  is  for 
you  to  determine  which  it  shall  be.  Of  this,  however, 
you  can  feel  assured:  I  have  done  all  for  you  that  I  have 
ever  done  for  the  most  blessed  wrorld  that  swings  through 
ethereal  space,  thrilling  with  the  harmony  of  angelic  life; 
and  you  have  the  means  of  making  this  earth  the  home  of 
the  noblest  and  best  of  my  children  if  you  will  but  wisely 
use  the  powers  I  have  bestowed  upon  you.' ': 

He  ceased  speaking,  and  his  face  was  rilled  with  an 
expression  of  divine  compassion,  while  a  sensation  of 
awe  crept  over  me  and  half  unconsciously  I  asked: 
"Are  you  not  of  this  world  yourself?" 
A  pleasant  smile  reassured  me,  and  he  replied: 
"I.  promised  to  tell  you  of  myself  and  my  people  as 
soon  as  I  had  permission  to  do  so.     That  liberty  has  been 
granted  to  me  and  I  am  about  to  tell  you  what  has  re 
mained  a  secret  to  the  world  at  large  for  centuries,  and  it 
is  imparted  to  you  because  you  have  devoted  yourself  to 
the  help  of  the  suffering  and  the  poor  with  a  disinterested 
generosity  which  is  rare  amongst  all  men,  but  especially 
rare  amongst  those  who  are  born  to  wealth. 


A  VISITOR  FROM  ANOTHER  WORLD.  59 

"Before  I  tell  you  in  what  part  of  the  earth  my  country 
is  situated,  let  me  state  a  few  particulars  in  which  we 
differ  from  all  other  nations. 

"Our  laws  are  few  and  simple,  but  admirably  adapted 
to  secure  the  happiness  of  the  whole  people.  Crime  is 
so  rare  amongst  us  that  we  have  no  police  force  and  the 
legal  profession  is  represented  by  half  a  dozen  judges 
whose  places  are  sinecures.  Our  wealth  is  abundant, 
but  so  equally  distributed  that  want  and  the  fear  of  want 
are  absolutely  unknown  amongst  us.  We  have  no  aris 
tocracy,  and  the  establishment  of  a  plutocracy  is  abso 
lutely  impossible.  The  laws  of  health  are  so  thoroughly 
understood  and  so  carefully  observed  that  disease  of  any 
kind  is  very  rare,  and  the  average  duration  of  life  is  not 
far  from  a  hundred  years.  Every  child  inherits  a  sound 
constitution  and  a  vigorous  mind  from  its  parents,  and 
the  forms  of  the  men  are  models  of  strength  and  sym 
metry,  while  the  women  are  beautiful  in  face  and  figure 
beyond  comparison  with  the  fairest  of  their  sex  in  any 
other  age  or  country.  Beauty  is  with  us  considered  the 
birthright  of  the  sex  and  it  would  be  considered  almost 
a  crime  to  permit  a  woman  to  be  born  without  it. 

"In  all  the  refinements  of  civilization  we  are  centuries 
ahead  of  the  rest  of  the  world.  In  agriculture  and  the 
mechanical  arts  we  have  made  such  progress  that  the 
material  wants  of  the  people  are  abundantly  supplied  by 
the  labor  of  a  comparatively  small  proportion  of  these 
for  a  few  hours  a  day.  In  music,  painting  and  architec 
ture  we  have  many  masters  who  rank  higher  than  the 
greatest  of  all  time  in  the  world  at  large.  Our  cities 
abound  in  noble  edifices  which  are  devoted  to  the  use, 
entertainment  and  instruction  of  the  people,  any  one  of 
which  would  become  a  world's  wonder  if  it  could  be 
transported  to  London  or  Paris,  while  the  ordinary  resi- 


60  IONIA. 

dences  of  our  farmers  and  mechanics  are  models  of  archi 
tectural  taste,  and  perfect  in  their  adaptation  to  comfort, 
convenience  and  health. 

"While  our  standard  of  living  would  be  considered 
luxurious  by  any  other  people,  we  are  not  given  to  the 
luxury  of  idleness.  Every  man  has  his  vocation,  and 
however  wealthy  he  may  be,  it  is  his  duty  and  privilege  to 
contribute  to  the  public  welfare  by  the  labor  of  his  hands 
or  his  head  until  old  age  has  diminished  his  ability;  and 
with  us  a  man  does  not  begin  to  be  old  until  he  has 
reached  the  age  of  four  score. 

"Our  government  is  a  pure  republic,  but  with  all  the 
advantages  of  a  monarchy,  for  the  administrative  power 
resides  with  the  chief  magistrate,  who  is  seldom  changed 
except  by  old  age  or  death,  and  the  responsibility  of  of 
fice  is  seldom  sought  after,  but  is  accepted  only  as  a  pub 
lic  duty  and  that  often  at  the  sacrifice  of  personal  inclina 
tion.  The  public  revenues  are  ample  at  all  times,  and 
are  chiefly  expended  in  the  maintenance  of  roads  and 
waterways,  in  the  adornment  of  our  towns  and  cities,  and 
in  the  education  of  the  young,  the  last  item  absorbing  by 
far  the  largest  portion  of  the  public  funds.  In  all  cases 
our  young  people  have  the  advantage  of  university  train 
ing,  and  it  is  never  necessary  for  a  child  to  spend  his 
years  in  labor  before  he  arrives  at  the  age  of  maturity. 
The  two  sexes  are  similarly  educated  in  literature,  sci 
ence  and  art,  and  in  the  primary  schools  are  taught  in 
the  same  classes.  In  the  universities  they  are  separated, 
and  while  the  young  men  receive  a  thorough  course  of 
instruction  in  such  industry  or  profession  as  they  are  best 
adapted  for  with  the  view  of  fitting  them  to  earn  a  living, 
the  girls  are  taught  those  equally  useful  arts  which  make 
the  homes  of  our  people  attractive  and  delightful. 
Every  girl  graduate  is  not  only  a  thorough  housekeeper 


A  VISITOR  FROM  ANOTHER  WORLD  61 

and  cook,  but  she  is  also  an  experienced  nurse,  and  is  so~l 
well  versed  in  the  laws  of  health  that  when  she  comes  to ' 
occupy  the  place  of  wife  and  mother  the  services  of  the 
physician  are  seldom  required. 

"Our  ancestry  is  Hellenic,  but  not  without  a  slight 
admixture  of  other  races,  and  while  we  take  pleasure  in 
the  thought  that  our  forefathers  were  the  pioneers  of 
European  civilization,  it  is  to  our  modern  laws  that  we 
attribute  our  present  advantages,  and  while  your  people 
were  exploring  the  new  world  and  founding  colonies  be 
yond  the  seas,  ours  were  groaning  under  Asiatic  tyranny 
and  all  but  reduced  to  a  condition  of  slavery  and  barbar 
ism. 

"Our  country  is  a  valley  in  the  unexplored  recesses  of 
the  Himalayas,  which,  with  a  few  adjacent  glens  and  for 
ests,  comprises  about  ten  thousand  square  miles.  It  is 
absolutely  inaccessible  except  to  such  as  can  sail  on  the 
wings  of  the  wind,  and  air-ships  are  our  only  means  of  _ 
exit  and  entrance. 

"We  believe  we  have  solved  the  problem  of  human  liv 
ing,  and  as  a  lover  and  benefactor  of  your  kind  you  are 
invited  to  visit  our  fortunate  country,  which  we  call  by 
the  name  of  Ionia." 

The  feelings  with  which  I  listened  to  this  marvelous 
recital  can  be  more  easily  imagined  than  described,  and  I 
was  at  first  at  a  loss  for  words  to  answer  the  extraordi 
nary  invitation  extended  to  me.  At  length  I  found  the 
use  of  my  tongue,  and  said : 

"You  do  me  a  great  and  I  fear  an  unmerited  honor, 
and  if  it  lies  in  my  power  you  may  be  sure  that  I  shall 
avail  myself  of  this  great  privilege.  Am  I  to  understand 
that  it  is  the  government  of  this  wonderful  country  which 
honors  me  with  so  generous  an  invitation?" 

"Assuredly,"  said  he,  "I  am  ambassador-at-large  from 


62  IONIA. 

Ionia,  though  not  accredited  to  any  other  govern 
ment.  It  is  my  duty  to  observe  all  that  is  going  on  in 
Europe,  and  send  reports  to  the  state,  not  only  in  regard 
to  politics,  but  also  with  reference  to  all  important  in 
ventions  either  in  the  arts  of  peace  or  war.  I  am  ex 
pected  to  make  note  of  the  progress  of  science,  the  con 
dition  of  the  people  in  the  various  countries,  and  all  that 
pertains  to  human  affairs.  I  have  occupied  the  position 
for  ten  years,  spending  most  of  my  time  abroad,  but  re 
turning  home  annually  for  a  period  of  rest  and  recupera 
tion.  In  two  months  from  now  I  return  for  good,  and 
another  citizen  will  assume  the  duties  of  my  position, 
which  is  considered  one  of  the  least  desirable  in  connec 
tion  with  our  government. 

"I  may  as  well  explain  to  you  how  it  is  that  I  intro 
duced  myself  to  you  as  a  diamond  merchant.  The  dia 
mond,  as  you  know,  is  merely  carbon  crystallized,  and 
for  over  a  hundred  years  we  have  been  able  to  produce 
stones  equal  in  brilliance  and  purity  to  the  finest  that  are 
found  in  a  natural  state.  The  invention  was  purchased 
by  the  government,  but  as  diamonds  have  no  value  in 
Ionia  except  in  so  far  as  they  can  be  utilized  in  mining 
and  other  industries,  there  is  no  temptation  for  any  one 
to  attempt  the  discovery  on  his  own  account.  The  per 
son  who  occupies  my  position  is  furnished  with  a  quan 
tity  of  gems  of  large  size  and  almost  unlimited  value 
which  he  exchanges  for  gold  to  defray  his  expenses,  and 
these  are  left  entirely  to  his  own  discretion.  He  is  also 
permitted  to  retain  for  his  own  use  and  to  bring  into  the 
country  a  sum  sufficient  to  ensure  him  a  respectable  in 
come  for  the  remainder  of  his  life.  I  am  thus  known  to 
the  jewelers  in  all  European  cities  as  the  representative 
of  a  wealthy  company  of  diamond  merchants,  but  none 
of  them  suspects  the  stones  to  be  other  than  natural  or 


A  VISITOR  FROM  ANOTHER  WORLD.  63 

that  I  have  any  other  function  than  that  of  a  traveling 
merchant.  You  will  admit  that  I  practiced  no  deceit  in 
introducing  myself  to  you  as  I  did,  but  on  the  other  hand 
I  have  taken  the  earliest  opportunity  of  repaying  the  can 
dor  with  which  you  treated  me  on  our  first  interview." 

"You  have  clone  a  great  deal  more  than  that,"  said  I, 
"for  I  told  you  nothing  but  what  all  the  world  might 
know,  while  you  have  imparted  to  me  the  most  stupen 
dous  secret  in  the  history  of  the  world." 

"It  is  of  course  unnecessary  for  me  to  say  that  all  I 
have  told  you  is  strictly  confidential,  and  that  until  you 
have  the  express  consent  of  our  government,  we  shall 
expect  you  as  a  point  of  honor  to  refrain  from  divulging 
the  secret  of  our  existence  and  superior  civilization,  even 
should  you  consider  that  the  knowledge  of  them  would 
benefit  humanity  at  large." 

"I  promise  all  that  without  hesitation  or  reserve,  but 
there  is  one  serious  difficulty  about  my  acceptance  of  the 
invitation  to  visit  you.  I  have  never  had  any  secrets 
from  my  mother,  and  could  not  undertake  so  serious  a 
journey  without  imparting  to  her  a  full  knowledge  of 
its  scope  and  intention." 

"Your  mother,"  he  replied,  "must  be  no  ordinary 
woman,  and  I  think  we  can  trust  her  as  well  as  yourself. 
You  will  be  able  to  communicate  with  her  by  letter  and 
telegraph  from  Ionia,  and  she  need  have  no  cause  for 
anxiety  while  you  are  away." 

"Then,  I  think,  there  will  be  nothing  to  prevent  my 
going  with  you,  and  I  shall  look  forward  to  the  trip  with 
unspeakable  delight.  But  you  must  come  and  make  my 
mother's  acquaintance  and  place  the  matter  before  her 
yourself.  I  hope  you  can  spare  us  a  week  or  two  at  the 
Grange  before  the  time  of  your  departure,  and  the  sooner 
you  can  come  the  better  it  will  please  me." 


64  IONIA. 

"I  have  much  to  do  before  I  return,"  he  said,  "and  it 
is  necessary  for  me  to  spend  the  next  week  on  the  con 
tinent,  but  if  the  week  after  will  suit  your  convenience  I 
shall  be  happy  to  be  your  guest  for  a  few  days." 

So  it  was  arranged,  and  about  ten  days  afterwards  I 
had  the  pleasure  of  introducing  Mr.  Delphion  to  my 
mother  at  the  Grange. 

My  mother  was  delighted  with  her  guest,  and  thought 
him  so  far  superior  to  all  other  men  whom  she  had  ever 
seen  that  he  appeared  to  belong  to  another  race  of  men, 
and  asked  me  to  tell  her  all  I  knew  about  him.  But  I 
replied  that  Mr.  Delphion  would  enlighten  her  on  that 
subject  before  he  left;  that  what  I  knew  of  him  was  im 
parted  to  me  in  confidence  which  she  in  good  time  would 
share,  but  which  I  could  not  honorably  betray. 

"Surely,"  she  said,  "there  cannot  be  anything  about 
such  a  man  which  it  is  necessary  to  conceal,  anything  I 
mean  in  the  slightest  degree  dishonorable." 

"If  the  archangel  Michael  came  down  from  heaven  to 
be  your  guest,"  said  I,  "there  would  be  nothing  dishon 
orable  in  it,  but  he  would  not  wish  anybody  to  know  it." 

"Well,"  she  said,  "I  have  heard  of  such  a  thing  as  en 
tertaining  angels  unawares,  but  you  cannot  make  me  be 
lieve  that  such  is  the  case  with  us,  for  I  am  sure  that  Mr. 
Delphion  is  a  mortal  man,  although  different  in  many 
respects  from  all  others.  However,  I  do  not  propose  to 
seek  to  penetrate  the  mystery  which,  it  seems,  surrounds 
our  guest,  or  ask  you  to  betray  his  confidence  by  the 
slightest  hint,  so  I  shall  endeavor  to  repress  my  womanly 
curiosity  until  he  sees  fit  to  indulge  it." 

"If  you  like  I  shall  ask  him  to  speak  to  you  about  him 
self  this  evening." 

"Not  for  the  world,"  said  she.  "My  son's  friend  shall 
always  be  welcome  in  my  house,  and  I  would  not  have 


A  VISITOR  FROM  ANOTHER  WORLD.  C5 

him  think  for  a  moment  that  he  should  present  his  cre 
dentials  to  me  in  order  to  stand  upon  the  footing  of  the 
most  honored  guest." 

''Well,  mother,  I  believe  you  know  that  I  never  had  a 
secret  from  you  before,  and  I  have  already  stipulated 
that  you  shall  share  in  this  one." 

By  this  time  it  had  begun  to  be  rumored  among  the 
great  folks  in  the  district  that  we  had  a  lion  of  no  ordi 
nary  sort  as  a  guest  at  the  Grange,  and  we  began  to  re 
ceive  an  unusual  number  of  visitors,  both  ladies  and  gen 
tlemen,  who  were  all  very  much  impressed  with  Mr.  Del- 
phion's  appearance  and  conversation.  They  plied  him 
with  invitations  to  call  or  come  and  dine  with  them,  but 
all  such  he  politely  declined,  alleging  the  shortness  of  the 
time  at  his  disposal  as  a  sufficient  excuse.  Many  of  the 
ladies  asked  me  privately  to  tell  them  who  and  what  he 
was,  and  tried  all  sorts  of  blandishments  to  get  some  in 
formation  from  me,  but  to  them  all  I  gave  but  one  an 
swer — 

"He  is  a  visitor  from  another  world." 

And  although  this  only  piqued  their  curiosity  it  was  all 
the  information  they  could  obtain,  for  I  would  tell  them 
no  more,  and  my  mother,  of  course,  could  not. 

Mr.  Delphion  seemed  more  inclined  to  cultivate  the 
society  of  our  humble  villagers  than  that  of  the  fashiona 
ble  folks.  He  took  great  pleasure  in  inspecting  all  the 
improvements  my  mother  had  made,  and  at  her  request 
delivered  a  lecture  in  the  hall  on  the  different  races  of 
India,  which  was  greatly  appreciated  by  a  large  and  en 
thusiastic  audience.  He  also  begged  and  received  her 
permission  to  entertain  the  whole  population  of  the  vil 
lage  at  an  open-air  festival  on  the  commons.  This  took 
place  on  the  Saturday  afternoon  following  his  arrival, 
and  proved  a  grand  success.  He  had  a  brass  band  down 

6 


66  IONIA. 

from  London  by  a  special  train  which  brought  also  a 
company  of  caterers  who  laid  out  such  a  feast  of  good 
things  as  five  hundred  humble  villagers  had  never  seen 
before.  Foot  races  and  other  athletic  sports  were  ren 
dered  doubly  interesting  by  a  great  variety  of  handsome 
presents  provided  for  the  winners.  There  was  dancing 
for  the  lads  and  lasses  to  the  music  of  the  band,  and  seats 
were  provided  for  the  old  folks  to  rest  in  and  look  on  in 
comfort.  When  the  sun  set  after  a  glorious  afternoon 
the  train  departed  with  the  musicians  and  the  caterer's 
men,  but  the  villagers  seemed  loth  to  break  up  and  ac 
knowledge  that  the  festival  which  they  had  all  enjoyed 
so  much  was  actually  over.  There  would  still  be  an 
hour  of  twilight,  and  someone  proposed  that  they  should 
finish  the  day  by  a  grand  tug  of  war  between  married  and 
single  men.  This  suggestion  was  received  with  a  shout 
of  enthusiasm,  and  a  strong  rope  was  procured  and  twen 
ty-five  picked  men  on  each  side  arranged  themselves  for 
the  fray.  Each  one  of  the  fifty  took  hold  of  the  rope, 
married  men  on  one  side  and  bachelors  on  the  other, 
with  six  feet  of  rope  between  the  foremost  on  each  side. 
Two  stakes  were  set  in  the  ground  directly  in  the  middle 
and  the  victory  should  belong  to  the  side  which  first  suc 
ceeded  in  hauling  the  nearest  of  their  adversaries  clear 
across  the  line  marked  by  the  stakes.  They  were  nearly 
equally  matched,  but  the  younger  men,  being  more  sup 
ple,  seemed  to  pull  better  together,  and  four  times  in  suc 
cession  they  succeeded  in  drawing  the  foremost  of  their 
adversaries  across  the  dividing  line.  They  now  felt  sure 
of  victory  and  indulged  in  a  good  deal  of  chaff  and  banter 
at  the  expense  of  the  other  side.  Just  before  time  was 
called  for  the  fifth  bout,  an  old  grandsire  whose  three 
sons  were  on  the  losing  side,  stepped  up  to  Mr.  Delphion, 
cap  in  hand,  and  said : 


A  VISITOR  FROM  ANOTHER  WORLD.  67 

"Axing  your  pardon,  sir,  may  I  be  so  bold  as  to  ask  if 
you  be  a  married  man?" 

"Certainly  I  am,"  said  he,  "but  why  do  you  ask?" 

"Nothing  at  all,  sir,  only  I  thought  you  would  hate  to 
stand  by  and  see  your  own  side  beaten." 

"You  mean,"  said  Mr.  Delphion,  "that  I  should  take 
a  hand  and  try  to  wrest  the  victory  from  the  young  men 
even  yet?" 

"Well,  sir,  it's  not  my  place  to  be  saying  such  a  thing, 
but  you  do  look  as  strong  as  any  two  on  us." 

Here  my  mother,  who  was  sitting  by  watching  the 
game,  interfered,  saying: 

"For  shame,  Dobson!  How  can  you  be  so  imperti 
nent?" 

But  Mr.  Delphion,  who  seemed  much  amused  at  the 
suggestion,  assured  her  that  he  should  be  delighted  to 
take  a  hand  in  the  struggle  provided  the  bachelors  would 
consent.  This  question  was  at  once  referred  to  them, 
and  they  having  no  fear  of  the  result  agreed  to  the  prop 
osition  without  hesitation,  and  Mr.  Delphion  took  off  his 
coat  and  assumed  the  position  of  captain  of  the  married 
men.  He  made  some  changes  in  their  arrangement  in 
the  line,  and  advised  them  as  to  how  they  could  best 
apply  their  strength  and  throw  their  united  weight  into 
the  tug,  and  then  all  took  their  places  for  the  fifth  and  as 
the  bachelors  fully  believed  the  last  trial.  But  they 
found  they  had  met  their  match  at  last.  They  tugged 
and  strained  and  hollered,  but  all  was  of  no  avail.  Mr. 
Delphion  seemed  rooted  to  the  ground  like  an  English 
oak,  and  when  the  young  men  had  exhausted  themselves 
he  gave  the  word  to  his  men,  and  slowly  but  surely  they 
pulled  their  adversaries  forward  till  the  mark  was  passed, 
and  the  married  men  scored  one  point.  The  tables  were 
now  turned:  the  bachelors  made  some  changes  amongst 


68  IONIA. 

their  champions,  turning  out  some  of  the  lighter  weights 
and  putting  likely  young  fellows  in  their  places,  but  they 
did  not  score  again,  and  at  last  the  victory  was  declared 
for  the  married  men,  amid  much  cheering  and  throwing 
up  of  caps  in  the  air.  The  bachelors  looked  quite  crest 
fallen  and  had  little  heart  to  reply  to  the  thrusts  of  wit 
with  which  they  were  now  assailed,  but  Mr.  Delphion 
made  them  a  little  humorous  speech  which  raised  their 
spirits,  and  finished  by  proposing  three  cheers  for  the 
losers,  which  was  heartily  responded  to,  and  the  meeting 
at  last  broke  up.  On  our  return  home  my  mother  gently 
remonstrated  with  our  guest  for  undertaking  a  task 
which  she  thought  might  well  have  resulted  in  serious 
injury. 

"You  and  I,"  she  said,  "are  not  so  young  as  we  were, 
and  cannot  safely  attempt  what  would  have  been  easy  to 
us  at  one  time.  Pardon  me  for  classing  you  with  myself 
as  regards  age,  for  I  am  an  old  woman,  and  you  are  still 
in  your  prime,  but  it  alarmed  me  to  see  you  entering 
upon  a  trial  of  strength  with  all  those  men  whose  frames 
are  hardened  by  manual  labor  so  that  they  can  stand  a 
strain  which  might  be  fatal  to  one  of  more  delicate  or 
ganization." 

"But,"  said  he,  "so  far  from  being  at  a  disadvantage 
with  these  hard-working  men,  I  was  really  in  better  con 
dition  than  any  of  them  to  bring  all  my  strength  and 
weight  into  play,  for  whereas  their  labor  stiffens  their 
joints  while  it  hardens  their  muscles,  I  take  just  sufficient 
exercise  every  day  to  keep  my  strength  up  to  the  proper 
mark  for  any  call  that  may  be  made  upon  it.  I  never 
travel  without  a  pair  of  light  dumb-bells  in  my  valise,  and 
practice  with  them  at  least  an  hour  a  day.  In.  the  matter 
of  ages,  although  that  is  a  delicate  question  when  a  lady 
is  concerned,  I  have  no  hesitation  in  saying  that  I  am 


A  VISITOR  FROM  ANOTHER  WORLD.  69 

old  enough  to  be  your  father,  for  I  was  sixty-eight  at  my 
last  birthday." 

"Sixty-eight!  Surely,  Mr.  Delphion,  you  are  jesting." 
"No,  my  dear  madam,  but  in  my  country  a  man  is  still 
in  his  prime  at  sixty-eight.  And  I  may  as  well  take  this 
opportunity  of  imparting  to  you  what  I  have  already  told 
your  son  about  myself  and  my  country.  Our  existence 
is  unknown  to  all  the  world,  besides,  and  it  is  in  the  cause 
of  philanthropy  that  I  have  taken  him  and  am  about  to 
take  you  into  my  confidence,  feeling  sure  from  what  I 
know-, of  you  both  that  the  trust  will  never  be  betrayed// 
/KnA  then  he  told  my  mother  of  that  strange,  far-off  coun 
try  whose  people  have  mastered  the  grand  problem  of 
human  life,  while  all  others  have  so  signally  failed.  He 
wound  up  by  stating  that  he  had  given  me  an  invitation 
to  visit  Ionia  in  order  that  I  might  verify  by  actual  ob 
servation  the  statements  he  had  made  in  regard  to  the 
superior  civilization  of  its  people,  so  that  I  might  be 
guided  by  what  I  there'  saw  and  learned,  in  any  future 
efforts  I  might  make  for  the  elevation  of  the  masses  in 
our  own  country. 

"His  coming  to  visit  us,"  said  he,  "will  necessitate  your 
being  parted  from  him  for  a  considerable  time,  and  I 
know  that  your  son  is  all  in  all  to  you,  but  he  will  be  as 
safe  with  us  as  he  can  be  anywhere,  and  you  can  corre 
spond  with  him  constantly,  and  whether  any  great  good 
to  the  world  will  result  from  his  visit  or  not  it  will  cer 
tainly  be  both  pleasurable  and  profitable  to  himself.  He 
is  too  considerate  of  your  wishes  to  answer  my  invitation 
before  talking  it  over  with  you,  and  there  is  no  need  for 
any  haste  in  deciding  the  matter.  I  do  not  leave  Europe 
before  the  end  of  August,  so  you  have  plenty  of  time  to 
think  of  it,  but  when  the  time  comes,  I  hope  to  have  Mr. 
Musgrave  for  my  traveling  companion." 


70  IONIA. 

My  mother  looked  very  grave  at  this,  and  while  thank 
ing  Mr.  Delphion  for  the  kindness  and  consideration 
shown  us  both,  said  she  would  like  to  think  over  it  for  a 
day  or  two  and  talk  with  me  about  it,  so  the  subject  was 
dropped  for  the  time.  But  before  our  guest  left  us  it 
was  all  settled  that  I  was  to  go  with  him,  and  I  looked 
forward  to  the  expedition  with  as  much  pleasant  antici 
pation  as  if  I  had  been  contemplating  a  trip  to  another 
planet. 

By  this  time  the  establishment  in  St.  Oswald's  was  in 
good  working  order,  and  did  not  require  my  personal 
oversight.  I  requested  the  rector  to  assume  my  respon 
sibility  there  for  a  time,  and  placed  a  large  fund  to  his 
credit  at  the  bank,  so  that  he  might  be  able  to  meet  all 
contingencies. 

By  way  of  consoling  my  mother  for  my  long  prospec 
tive  absence,  I  spent  the  last  three  or  four  weeks  at  home, 
except  for  two  or  three  flying  trips  to  London  to  see  that 
matters  were  running  smoothly  there,  and  I  found  all  my 
agents  working  so  cordially  and  zealously  under  Mr. 
Calderwood's  supervision  that  I  felt  satisfied  that  I 
should  not  be  seriously,  missed. 


CHAPTER  IV. 
A  FAR  COUNTRY. 

Late  in  the  afternoon  of  a  day  in  the  early  part  of  Sep 
tember  Mr.  Delphion  and  I  rode  up  the  slope  of  a  steep 
hill  on  the  southern  side  of  the  Himalayas.  The  summit 
of  this  hill  formed  the  site  of  an  old  stone  fort  called 
Benabra,  dating  from  the  early  days  of  the  Mogul  em 
pire.  The  country  around  is  a  barren  plain  without 


A  FAR  COUNTRY.  71 

shade  or  sign  of  human  habitation,  the  nearest  village 
being  ten  miles  away.  The  fort  is  the  property  of  the 
Ionian  government,  and  is  used  by  them  in  their  com 
munications  with  the  outer  world,  and  is  inhabited  by  an 
old  Sikh  and  his  family,  a  liberal  allowance  being  paid 
them  to  keep  the  place  in  order  and  keep  their  own  coun 
sel  in  regard  to  what  they  know  of  their  masters,  which, 
however,  is  comparatively  little.  The  old  man's  son  had 
brought  our  baggage  earlier  in  the  day,  but  we  preferred 
to  wait  till  the  sun  was  long  past  the  meridian  before  un 
dertaking  the  journey,  and  it  wanted  but  an  hour  of  his 
setting  when  we  arrived  in  sight  of  the  fort.  Evidently 
we  were  not  expected  even  then,  for  there  was  no  sign  of 
life  about  the  place,  but  just  as  we  dismounted  from  our 
horses  a  tall  young  man  came  through  the  gateway  and 
saluted  my  companion  in  Greek,  and  then  turning  to  me, 
grasped  my  hand  warmly,  saying : 

"I  .am  glad  to  meet  my  father's  English  friend,  and  I 
hope  you  will  enjoy  your  visit  amongst  us." 

He  spoke  quite  fluently,  but  with  a  strange  yet  very 
agreeable  accent.  I  replied  that  I  was  delighted  to  meet 
the  son  of  my  friend,  and  felt  sure  that  my  visit  would 
afford  me  greater  pleasure  than  anything  I  had  ever  un 
dertaken. 

Although  rather  taller  than  the  average  Englishman, 
I  had  to  look  up  to  this  young  man  like  a  boy.  I  saw 
that  he  had  his  father's  sparkling  eye  and  grand  leonine 
bearing.  His  face  was  clean-shaven  except  for  the  mous 
tache,  which  was  full  and  glossy  black;  his  broad  shoul 
ders,  deep  chest  and  clean-cut  muscular  limbs  made  him 
a  model  of  manly  grace  and  beauty.  He  had  much  of 
the  kindly  expression  which  distinguished  his  father,  and 
no  one  could  look  into  his  face  without  feeling  that  he 
was  one  to  be  trusted  to  the  uttermost 


72  IONIA. 

As  I  walked  between  these  two  grand  men  towards 
the  interior  of  the  fort  I  was  overcome  by  a  feeling  of 
deep  humility,  like  one  in  the  presence  of  beings  of  a  su 
perior  race,  and  I  thought:  if  all  the  men  of  Ionia  are 
like  these  two,  what  a  puny  race  they  must  think  I  rep 
resent. 

A  few  steps  brought  us  to  the  interior  court,  the  sight 
of  which  was  very  refreshing  after  our  hot  and  dusty  ride, 
for  it  was  full  of  all  manner  of  beautiful  greenery.  Palms 
and  luxurious  tropical  flowers  grew  in  great  profusion, 
and  a  lovely  fountain  threw  up  showers  of  spray  in  the 
center. 

"How  is  this,"  said  I,  "that  you  have  water  on  the  top 
of  a  hill  in  the  desert?  This  seems  like  magic." 

"But  for  the  water,"  said  Mr.  Delphion,  "the  fort 
would  never  have  been  here.  It  comes,  of  course,  from 
higher  hills  far  away,  and  probably  follows  some  subter 
ranean  channel  of  volcanic  origin." 

Dion  Delphion  now  reminded  us  that  the  sun  was 
sinking  fast,  and  that  we  had  a  long  journey  before  us, 
and  led  the  way  up  a  flight  of  stairs  to  a  pleasant  room 
overlooking  the  court,  where  we  partook  of  a  light  re 
freshment  of  coffee,  rice  cakes,  chicken  and  fruit;  after 
which  we  repaired  to  the  top  of  the  fort,  where  I  had  my 
first  view  of  an  air-ship.  The  whole  fort  was  roofed  in 
with  large  stone  flags,  and  as  the  ramparts  were  high, 
a  small  fleet  of  these  vessels  might  have  lain  there  with 
out  being  visible  from  below,  and  doubtless  this  was  one 
reason  wrhy  the  lonians,  desiring  to  pass  to  and  from 
their  own  valley  unobserved,  had  chosen  the  place  for 
their  solitary  outpost.  I  approached  the  flying  vessel 
with  a  great  deal  of  curiosity,  and  found  it  very  different 
from  what  I  had  imagined.  There  was  nothing  of  the 
balloon  about  it,  nor  any  elaborate  apparatus  of  sails  to 
make  it  float  upon  the  wind.  What  I  saw  was  like  an 


A  FAR  COUNTRY.  73 

enormous  egg,  at  least  twenty  feet  long,  rather  high  in 
proportion  to  its  length,  and  flattened  at  the  bottom.  It 
stood  on  four  slender  legs,  made  of  double  bands  of 
elastic  metal,  which  spread  out  at  the  foot  like  stirrups. 
Something  that  looked  like  a  lady's  fan  extended  under 
neath  from  a  rod  or  shaft  in  the  center,  the  broad  end 
reaching  to  the  stern.  A  similar  fan-like  device  stood 
up  perpendicularly  behind,  attached  to  a  slender  shaft 
protruding  several  feet  from  the  body  of  the  vessel.  The 
surface  of  the  ship  was  of  a  light  sky-blue  and  beautifully 
enameled,  showing  neither  seam  nor  joint  except  where 
a  row  of  small  port-holes  ran  round  the  sides  and  in 
front  where  there  were  two  larger  windows,  one  on  either 
side,  all  of  which  were  quite  flush  with  the  outer  surface 
so  as  to  reduce  the  resistance  of  the  air  to  a  minimum. 
There  were  also  four  or  five  small,  round  glasses  in  the 
bottom  of  the  hull  close  around  the  shaft  to  which  the 
fan  was  attached.  This  was  all  I  saw,  and  as  the  work 
ing  of  the  vessel  was  still  a  perfect  enigma  to  me,  I  asked 
young  Delphion  to  enlighten  my  ignorance,  which  he 
readily  undertook^ to  do. 

''You  see  this  fan-like  apparatus  underneath,"  he  said; 
"that  is  the  elevator,  and  is  used  solely  to  raise  the  vessel 
when  we  take  flight  or  let  it  down  again  when  we  wish  to 
land.  When  we  have  attained  sufficient  elevation  the 
sails  are  spread  and  the  upright  fan  which  we  call  the 
propeller  is  brought  into  operation  and  gives  us  our 
horizontal  motion,  and  then  the  elevator  is  folded  up 
again  as  you  see  it  now.  I  shall  take  a  little  flight  before 
you  start  with  us,  and  you  will  understand  the  operating 
of  the  vessel  better  by  seeing  it  from  the  outside." 

He  then  went  inside  through  a  little  door  in  the  rear 
which  I  had  not  previously  observed,  on  account  of  its 
close  fitting,  and  left  me  with  his  father  to  see  how  the 


74  IONIA. 

wonderful  thing  was  managed.  In  a  moment  the  ele 
vator  spread  out  its  leaves  (which  were  of  thin,  bright 
metal,  making  a  complete  circle,)  and  began  to  revolve 
with  such  rapidity  that  nothing  could  be  seen  but  a 
whirling  haze.  Slowly  at  first,  and  then  more  rapidly, 
the  ship  began  to  ascend,  till  it  was  about  a  hundred  feet 
above  us,  and  then  a  number  of  long  masts  or  poles  shot 
out  from  the  sides,  and  between  these  canvas  was 
stretched  until  the  vessel  was  surrounded  by  an  immense 
spread  of  sail  nearly  horizontal,  but  inclining  slightly  up 
ward  towards  the  front.  When  this  was  accomplished 
the  propeller  began  to  act  in  the  same  way  as  the  ele 
vator,  and  the  ship  shot  forward  with  great  velocity.  At 
the  same  moment  another  sail  appeared  in  an  upright 
position  between  the  propeller  and  the  hull,  and  the  ele 
vator  folded  itself  up,  and  in  a  few  moments  the  ship  had 
disappeared,  for  the  sun  had  gone  down,  and  it  was  grow 
ing  dark.  I  inquired  what  the  upright  sail  was  for,  and 
Mr.  Delphion  informed  me  it  was  the  rudder.  Before  I 
could  ask  any  more  questions  the  vessel  came  fluttering 
quietly  down  and  landed  exactly  on  the  place  from  which 
it  started.  Dion  now  opened  the  door  and  called  to  us 
to  enter,  which  we  did  by  means  of  a  slender  metal  lad 
der  which  was  let  down  from  the  inside,  but  once  in  I 
found  it  so  dark  that  I  could  see  nothing  except  the  faint 
light  coming  in  through  the  port-holes..  In  that  latitude 
there  is  hardly  any  twilight,  and  as  the  sun  had  set  some 
minutes  before,  it  was  now  almost  dark;  I  was  led  to  a 
seat,  however,  and  before  I  was  conscious  of  any  mo 
tion  of  the  vessel  itself  I  saw  the  walls  of  the  fortress  ap 
parently  sinking  beneath  us.  I  inquired  if  the  whole 
journey  had  to  be  made  in  darkness,  but  Mr.  Delphion 
assured  me  that  we  should  have  all  the  light  we  wished 
in  a  few  minutes,  but  that  Dion  would  have  to  get  his 


A  FAR  COUNTRY.  75 

bearings  from  the  mountains  ahead  of  us  in  order  to 
shape  his  course.  We  appeared  to  be  rising  very  rap 
idly,  for  from  where  I  sat  I  could  see  nothing  of  the  earth 
at  all,  but  looking  forward  through  the  front  windows 
I  could  distinguish  a  short  stretch  of  twilight  with  the 
outlines  of  some  dark  hills  between.  It  almost  seemed 
as  if  we  were  rising  out  of  the  earth's  shadow  and  over 
taking  the  sunlight,  but  presently  the  motion  changed, 
the  sails  were  thrown  out,  and  the  propeller  brought  into 
play,  and  I  felt  the  ship  assume  a  forward  motion;  a 
number  of  incandescent  lamps  were  lighted,  and  I  found 
that  we  were  in  a  very  handsome  and  comfortably  fur 
nished  saloon. 

Mr.  Delphion  and  I  were  sitting  in  two  large  arm 
chairs  side  by  side;  behind  us  was  the  machinery  en 
closed  in  a  glass-covered  case,  occupying  a  space  of 
about  three  cubic  feet,  and  behind  that  again  sat  Dion. 
Immediately  in  front  of  him  was  a  long,  narrow  box, 
connected  with  the  case  which  contained  the  machinery, 
and  in  this  wrere  arranged  a  compass  and  several  gauges 
with  two  or  three  small  wheels  and  levers,  and  by  means 
of  these  he  directed  the  course  of  the  vessel,  causing  it 
to  rise  or  fall,  to  swerve  to  the  right  or  left,  by  an  almost 
imperceptible  touch  of  the  fingers.  Perceiving  the  ceil 
ing  overhead  to  be  rather  lower  than  I  should  have  ex 
pected,  I  said  to  my  companion : 

'This  saloon  does  not  seem  to  occupy  more  than  half 
the  bulk  of  the  vessel;  how  is  the  remaining  space  dis 
posed  of?" 

'The  upper  portion,"  said  Mr.  Delphion,  "comprising 
more  than  half  of  the  hull,  is  a  hydrogen  chamber,  which 
serves  to  diminish  the  total  weight,  and  at  the  same 
time  to  give  the  necessary  steadiness.  Just  as  the  ballast 
in  a  ship  keeps  it  always  keel  downward,  so  our  hydrogen 


76  IONIA. 

chamber,  being  so  very  much  lighter  than  the  lower  por 
tion  of  the  vessel,  makes  it  impossible  for  any  gust  of 
wind  to  upset  it." 

"And  what  is  the  source  of  your  power?  I  see  noth 
ing  like  a  steam  engine  or  any  other  device  to  control 
the  machinery." 

"Electricity,"  he  said,  "is  the  force  which  carries  us 
through  the  air.  No  other  force  can  ever  be  used  to 
propel  an  air-ship,  and  although  I  once  told  you  that  we 
expect  the  outside  world  to  arrive  at  the  discovery  of 
aerial  navigation,  they  have  to  learn  a  good  deal  yet  be 
fore  they  accomplish  it.  Their  ideas  of  the  storage  bat 
tery  are  still  very  crude,  and  will  have  to  be  very  much 
improved  before  they  can  travel  as  \ve  are  doing  now. 
It  would  surprise  your  electrical  experts  to  learn  that  we 
can  store  enough  of  the  subtle  force  in  this  vessel  to  keep 
it  moving  for  a  week,  and  we  not  only  do  that,  but  we 
can  draw  upon  the  same  stores  to  warm  and  light  it  as 
well.  It  is  sometimes  very  cold  when  we  get  far  away 
from  the  earth,  and  more  electrical  force  is  required  to 
keep  up  the  temperature  to  a  comfortable  point  than  to 
propel  the  vessel  on  its  course." 

"At  what  height  above  the  surface  of  the  earth  do  you 
usually  travel?" 

"That  depends  entirely  upon  the  winds.  If  the  lower 
current  is  favorable  we  may  remain  within  two  or  three 
hundred  feet  of  the  surface,  but  if  it  is  adverse  we  some 
times  rise  to  a  height  of  two  thousand  or  even  three 
thousand  feet  in  order  to  find  a  breeze  that  will  help, 
rather  than  hinder  us." 

"At  what  height  are  we  sailing  just  now?" 

Mr.  Delphion  turned  to  his  son  and  asked:  "How 
high  are  we  just  now,  Dion?" 

"About  twelve  hundred  feet  from  the  ground." 


A  FAR  COUNTRY.  77 

This  seemed  very  high  to  me,  and  I  asked  if  it  was  not 
dangerous  to  be  so  far  from  the  earth. 

"On  the  contrary,"  said  Mr.  Delphion,"  the  higher  we 
are  the  safer  we  are.  For  if  anything  should  go  wrong 
with  the  machinery  when  we  are  only  two  or  three  hun 
dred  feet  up  we  might  reach  the  ground  with  disastrous 
speed  before  we  have  time  to  put  matters  straight,  where 
as,  if  we  are  two  thousand  feet  high  there  would  be  much 
more  time  to  apply  the  remedy  before  any  harm  could 
befall.  But  as  a  matter  of  fact,  the  danger  of  any  ser 
ious  accident  happening  to  our  air-ships  is  almost  in 
finitesimal,  for  the  machinery  which  moves  the  propeller 
is  quite  independent  of  that  which  works  the  elevator,  so 
if  from  any  cause  whatever  the  former  should  become 
disabled,  the  latter  could  be  brought  into  operation  at 
once,  and  thus  the  worst  that  can  happen  is  a  gradual 
descent  to  the  ground  before  the  journey  is  finished. 
Even  such  a  slight  misfortune  as  that  is  of  very  rare  oc 
currence,  for  every  part  of  the  machinery  is  of  the  tough 
est  metal  ever  made,  and  we  overhaul  it  and  see  that 
everything  is  in  perfect  order  before  starting  on  a  trip." 

"What  is  the  ordinary  speed  of  your  aerial  flights?" 

"Different  vessels  have  different  rates  of  speed,  just 
the  same  as  it  is  with  sailing  vessels  and  steamships.  In 
a  calm  atmosphere  the  speed  varies  all  the  way  from  fifty 
to  seventy-five  miles  an  hour.  The  velocity  of  the  wind 
has  to  be  added  to  or  subtracted  from  this,  according  to 
its  being  with  or  against  us.  We  generally  arrange  to 
have  it  with  us  if  possible,  but  this  cannot  always  be 
done,  and  then  progress  is  comparatively  slow.  Our 
country  is  so  well  sheltered  by  mountains  that  we  seldom 
have  winds  blowing  at  a  greater  velocity  than  fifty  miles 
an  hour,  so  that  the  greatest  speed  ever  attained  by  our 


78  IONIA. 

air-ships  is  about  a  hundred  and  twenty-five  miles  in 
sixty  minutes." 

"At  what  rate  do  you  think  we  are  going  now?" 

"Dion  can  tell  us  exaetly.  How  fast  are  we  moving, 
Dion?" 

"Eighty-five  miles  an  hour  at  present." 

"That  is  about  what  I  thought,"  said  Mr.  Delphion, 
"The  wind  is  with  us,  but  it  is  a  very  gentle  breeze; 
not  more,  I  should  say,  than  ten  miles  an  hour." 

Dion  now  suggested  that  before  the  moon  rose  I 
should  go  forward  and  take  a  look  at  the  stars. 

"Yes,  you  must  do  so,"  said  his  father,  "for  you  will 
find  it  a  very  brilliant  spectacle.  The  clearness  of  the 
air  at  this  elevation  has  a  marvelous  effect." 

So  I  walked  forward  to  the  front  of  the  vessel,  where 
were  two  plate-glass  windows  of  considerable  size,  and 
so  transparent  that  I  could  see  as  well  as  if  I  were  in 
the  open  air.  Dion  extinguished  the  lights,  and  a  scene 
of  marvelous  splendor  burst  upon  my  view.  The  heav 
ens  blazed  with  stars  infinitely  more  numerous  than 
ever  I  had  seen  before,  and  many  times  brighter.  And 
what  struck  me  as  stranger  still,  they  appeared  not  to 
be  all  set  in  the  same  equi-distant  sky  as  with  us,  but 
the  brighter  ones  seemed  to  hang  in  midair,  while  those 
of  smaller  magnitude  looked  as  if  removed  to  awful  dis 
tances.  The  great  multiplicity  of  stars  at  first  prevented 
my  distinguishing  any  of  the  constellations  that  were 
know'n  to  me,  and  I  felt  as  if  I  were  gazing  at  a  new 
and  more  gorgeous  heaven  of  stars.  Right  in  front — 
in  the  northwest,  but  nearer,  apparently,  than  any  other 
— blazed  an  orb  of  regal  splendor,  which  required  no 
effort  of  the  imagination  to  recognize  as  a  distant  sun; 
farther  north,  amongst  a  vast  swarm  of  brilliants,  were 
seven,  conspicuously  bright,  which  I  presently  made  out 


A  FAR  COUNTRY.  79 

to  be  the  Great  Bear,  and  that  other  splendid  orb,  the 
monarch  of  the  sky,  could  be  no  other  than  Arcttirus, 
but  shining  with  tenfold  his  ordinary  glory.  Looking 
up  toward  the  zenith,  I  caught  a  glimpse  of  Vega  pour 
ing  down  a  flood  of  quivering  light  that  outrivaled 
Venus  at  her  brightest.  Just  then  Dion  said: 

"I  shall  shut  off  the  propeller  for  a  minute  so  that/ 
you  may  hear  the  music  of  the  spheres." 

He  did  so,  and  an  awful  silence  fell  upon  us.  I  could 
see  nothing  of  the  earth  below  except  a  vague,  cloudy 
darkness,  but  above  and  all  around  were  myriads  of  stars, 
glowing  and  throbbing  with  the  intensity  of  celestial 
life.  It  was  an  awful  thought  that  all  those  millions  of 
suns  and  worlds  were  surging  through  space  suspended 
in  mere  vacuity,  and  for  the  moment  I  could  not  resist 
the  fancy  that  we,  too,  had  left  the  earth  and  were  wan 
dering  about  amongst  the  eternal  stars.  The  thought 
filled  me  with  a  sensation  of  horror,  and  I  called  out 
"Enough,"  and  the  propeller  instantly  resumed  its  chant 
and  the  chamber  blazed  again  with  light. 

"I  staggered  back  and  dropped  into  my  seat,  and  Mr. 
Delphion,  looking  anxiously  at  me,  said,  "What  ails 
you,  Mr.  Musgrave?  You  look  quite  pale." 

"You  will  doubtless  think  me  very  foolish,"  I  replied, 
"but  the  idea  came  into  my  head  all  of  a  sudden  that  I 
was  in  the  hands  of  the  immortals,  that  you  were  Zeus, 
and  Dion,  Apollo,  and  that  you  were  carrying  me  away 
off  amongst  the  stars,  and  that  I  should  never  see  the 
earth  again." 

Mr.  Delphion  threw  back  his  head  and  laughed  heart 
ily.  It  was  the  first  time  I  had  ever  heard  him  laugh, 
and  there  was  such  a  genuine  ring  of  human  enjoyment 
in  it  that  I  should  have  felt  reassured  at  once,  even  if 


80  IONIA. 

the  momentary  fancy  had  taken  a  deeper  hold  upon  me 
than  was  actually  the  case. 

"Do  you  hear,  Dion,"  said  he,  "how  our  friend  flat 
ters  us?" 

"I  do  not  call  it  flattery,"  said  Dion,  "I  should  not 
like  to  think  my  father  was  such  an  unscrupulous  old 
rascal  as  Zeus." 

"I  never  thought  of  it  in  that  way,"  said  I,  "but  I  am 
sure  that  you  and  your  father  might  very  well  serve  as 
models  to  a  sculptor  for  these  two  gods." 

"Now  that  is  flattery,  pure  and  simple,"  said  the  elder 
Delphion,  "but  let  us  talk  of  something  purely  human." 

"With  all  my  heart,"  said  I. 

"Well,  then,"  said  he,  "I  will  give  you  some  further 
information  about  the  country  you  are  going  to  visit, 
so  that  it  may  seem  a  little  less  strange  to  you  when 
you  arrive  there,  and  that  will  be  in  something  less  than 
two  hours  from  now.  The  principal  part  of  our  territory 
is,  as  I  have  already  told  you,  a  gently  sloping  valley, 
extending  a  hundred  and  fifty  miles  from  east  to  west, 
averaging  about  forty  in  width.  Through  it  flows  the 
river  Pharos,  which  is  navigable  at  all  seasons  as  far 
as  the  ancient  capital,  which  is  called  Thalmon,  situated 
very  near  the  center  of  the  valley.  The  river  has  many 
tributaries  flowing  into  it  from  both  sides,  and  these  are 
connected  by  a  network  of  canals,  which  have  no  par 
allel  except  perhaps  in  the  Netherlands.  All  these 
streams  have  their  source  amongst  the  higher  mountain 
peaks,  and  in  order  to  regulate  the  water  supply,  a  great 
number  of  large  reservoirs  have  been  constructed 
amongst  the  lower  hills,  and  by  this  means  we  have  a 
constant  supply  of  water  at  all  seasons  without  any 
danger  of  floods.  The  water  is  used  for  irrigation  in 
the  dry  season,  which  extends  from  July  to  November, 


A  FAR  COUNTRY.  81 

and  every  foot  of  land  in  cultivation  can  be  flooded  at 
will,  so  that  a  succession  of  crops  is  produced  every 
season,  and  the  country  could  support  a  much  larger 
population  than  it  is  now  required  to  do.  We  are  about 
three  millions  of  people,  and  we  add  to  our  numbers 
very  slowly,  for  we  do  not  consider  a  rapid  increase 
desirable.  The  modern  capital,  lolkos,  has  about  five . 
hundred  thousand  inhabitants,  the  city  of  Thalmon 
about  half  as  many,  and  we  have  towns  and  villages  of 
all  sizes  in  various  parts  of  the  country.  The  rural 
population  is  large,  for  the  farms  are  small,  varying  from 
twenty-five  to  seventy-five  acres,  and  are  always  culti 
vated  by  the  farmer  himself,  with  tlie  assistance  in  some 
cases  of  his  son.  Of  farm  laborers  as  a  class  we  have 
none. 

"The  river  Pharos  flows  from  west  to  east,  and  empties 
itself  into  Lake  Malo,  which  we  shall  pass  over  before 
arriving  at  our  destination.  This  is  a  beautiful  sheet  of 
water  about  twenty-five  miles  long,  and  is  discharged 
by  the  river  Styx,  which  flows  in  a  southerly  direction 
through  an  impassable  gorge,  denominated  the  Gates  of 
Hades,  which  in  ancient  times  afforded  an  entrance  to 
the  valley;  but  the  road  was  destroyed  and  rendered 
absolutely  impracticable  by  our  ancestors  as  a  protec 
tion  against  a  formidable  foe,  of  which  I  shall  tell  you 
more  at  another  time. 

"The  city  of  lolkos  is  built  at  the  mouth  of  the  river, 
and  commands  a  beautiful  view  of  the  lake  and  the  vast 
ranges  of  mountains  surrounding  it.  Although  the  chief 
seat  of  our  manufactures,  it  is  the  cleanest  and  the  quiet 
est  city  in  the  world.  The  streets  are  paved  with  the 
hardest  cement:  all  the  vehicles  which  roll  through  them 
are  propelled  by  electricity,  and  have  rubber  tires  on 
their  wheels.  The  roads  throughout  the  country  are 


82  IONIA. 

paved  in  the  same  manner,  and  the  spring  rains  clothe 
the  hillsides  with  grass,  so  that  no  dust  is  formed  any 
where.  We  have  no  coal  and  burn  but  little  charcoal, 
for  our  heat  as  well  as  light  and  motive  power  is  sup 
plied  by  electricity,  and  thus  our  atmosphere  is  free  from 
smoke  as  well  as  dust,  and  is  always  perfectly  clear  and 
wholesome  in  city  and  country  alike.  We  have  a  great 
many  beautiful  edifices,  and  you  will  find  a  harmony  of 
design  in  the  architecture  of  our  streets  which  is  not 
to  be  met  with  in  any  European  city. 

"Our  government  is  a  republic,  with  a  single  legisla 
tive  body  called  the  senate,  which  is  elected  by  the  rep 
resentatives  of  the  people.  Every  man  has  a  vote,  which 
he  casts  annually  for  the  magistrate  of  his  district  in  the 
city  or  province  wrhere  he  resides.  These  magistrates 
elect  the  senators,  who  are  apportioned  strictly  accord 
ing  to  population.  Their  term  is  for  three  years,  one- 
third  of  their  number  being  renewed  every  year.  A 
moderate  salary  is  attached  to  every  public  office,  not 
sufficient  to  form  an  inducement  to  aspire  to  the  senator- 
ship  or  magistracy,  and  there  is  so  little  desire  for  the 
power  of  place  amongst  us  that  no  man  ever  thinks  of 
soliciting  the  suffrages  of  the  people.  On  the  other 
hand,  it  is  held  to  be  a  public  duty  to  accept  office  when 
one  is  elected,  and  in  the  event  of  anyone  declining  with 
out  good  and  sufficient  cause,  accepted  as  such  by  the 
judge  appointed  for  such  cases,  he  has  to  pay  a  heavy 
fine,  and  all  the  costs  of  a  fresh  election  besides.  This 
is  a  thing  which  very  seldom  happens,  however,  for  there 
is  a  certain  amount  of  odium  attaching  to  such  a  dere 
liction  of  public  duty. 

"The  chief  executive  officer  is  called  the  archon,  who 
is  assisted  by  a  cabinet  of  six  ministers,  chosen  by  him 
self  and  responsible  only  to  him,  but  theoretically  im- 


A  FAR  COUNTRY.  83 

peachable  by  the  senate.  He  has  power  to  add  to  that 
number  if  he  thinks  necessary,  but  has  very  seldom 
availed  himself  of  it.  The  archon  is  elected  by  the  senate 
for  five  years,  but  is  usually  re-elected  and  often  holds 
the  high  office  for  life. 

''We  have  adopted  many  European  customs,  and 
our  calendar  is  the  same  as  yours,  except  that  we  divide 
the  year  into  twelve  months  of  thirty  days,  with  one  more 
in  January,  March,  June  and  September,  and  one  more 
in  February  in  leap  years.  We  have  the  week  of  seven 
days,  with  the  first  set  apart  for  rest  and  recreation. 

"We  address  each  other,  in  familiar  intercourse  by  our 
individual  names  only.  This  will  seem  a  little  strange 
to  you  at  first,  but  you  will  soon  become  accustomed  to 
calling  me  Jason,  my  wife  Helen,  my  daughter  Leda, 
and  so  forth,  and  you  must  not  be  surprised  to  find  your 
self  addressed  simply  as  Alexander." 

"I  am  sure  I  shall  not  mind  what  they  call  me,  but 
until  I  become  used  to  the  ways  of  the  country  it  will 
come  hard  to  me  to  address  your  ladies  by  their  Chris 
tian  names  without  prefix  or  title.  Have  you  no  titles 
of  any  kind  in  Ionia?" 

"None  whatever.  Even  our  first  magistrate  or  archon 
is  addressed  simply  by  his  name,  Minos,  nor  does  the 
dignity  of  his  years  and  character  suffer  by  what, 
amongst  your  people,  would  be  unwarrantable  famil 
iarity.  But  now  we  are  getting  near  to  the  Gates  of 
Hades,  the  moon  is  up  and  the  scene  well  worthy  of 
your  attention.  You  may  not  have  another  opportunity 
of  seeing  it,  so  if  you  will,  we  shall  both  step  forward 
and  find  out  where  we  are." 

So  we  took  our  places  by  the  windows  in  the  house, 
and  when  Dion  had  turned  out  the  lights  I  found  we 
were  amongst  the  'most  wonderful  mountain  scenery  I 


84  IONIA. 

had  ever  beheld.  Right  in  front,  and  apparently  about 
three  hundred  feet  below  the  airship,  was  a  chaos  of 
rocks,  tumbled  together  in  shapeless  masses,  as  if  some 
mighty  convulsion  had  broken  up  a  range  of  mountains 
and  thrown  the  fragments  down  pell-mell.  We  sped 
over  yawning  chasms  which  appeared  to  be  bottomless, 
and  past  great  mounds  which  rose  up  precipitously  from 
the  general  debris,  but  for  mile  upon  mile  there  was  not 
a  spot  which  could  afford  sustenance  or  even  foothold 
for  man  or  beast.  Beyond  this  scene  of  desolation  arose 
endless  ranges  of  mountains,  tier  above  tier,  with  snow- 
clad  peaks  which  gleamed  like  silver  in  the  light  of  the 
full  moon.  But  presently  we  approached  a  great  hill 
which  shut  out  the  distant  scene,  and  when  we  had  swept 
round  it  my  companion  directed  me  to  look  beneath,  for 
we  were  right  over  the  Gates  of  Hades. 

Beneath  us  was  a  deep  gorge,  the  sides  of  which  were 
jagged  precipices  several  hundred  feet  in  height.  The 
moon  was  not  very  high  yet,  so  that  only  an  occasional 
ray  found  its  way  to  the  bottom,  but  as  my  eye  became 
accustomed  to  darkness  I  could  distinguish  a  mass  of 
foaming  waters  dashing  past  the  cliffs  and  lashing  them 
selves  into  spray  against  projecting  rocks.  Then  fol 
lowed  a  stretch  of  smooth,  dark  river,  relieved  occasion 
ally  by  the  white  waves  of  some  tremendous  whirlpools. 
Again  a  half  mile  of  rapids,  boiling  and  surging  more 
furiously  than  the  first,  filled  the  space  from  side  to  side 
with  white  foam.  Gates  of  Hades  was  certainly  no  mis 
nomer,  and  they  would  close  swiftly  on  any  unfortunate 
soul  caught  within  their  dreadful  jaws.  But  now  I  saw 
that  we  were  approaching  the  end  of  this  fearful  gorge. 
There  was  a  wider  space  of  light  between  the  black  walls 
of  rock,  and  at  last  they  disappeared  from  under  us,  and 
we  were  flying  over  a  beautiful  sheet  of  still  water  sur- 


OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY 


PRESENTLY  WE  FI^EW  PAST  WHAT  SEEMED  A  CITY  OF 
PALACES. — Page  85. 


A  FAR  COUNTRY.  85 

rounded  by  the  glorious  mountain  ranges  we  had  seen 
in  the  distance. 

And  signs  of  human  habitation  came  into  view,  ves 
sels  on  the  water,  village  lights  on  the  shores,  and  a  great 
airship,  illuminated  from  stem  to  stern,  and  many  times 
larger  than  the  one  we  were  in,  flew  past  us  like  a  fiery 
meteor,  and  in  the  far  distance  a  luminous  haze,  becom 
ing  more  clear  at  every  moment,  indicated  our  approach 
to  a  great  city. 

Every  minute  brought  us  nearer,  until  I  could  dis 
tinguish  the  lines  of  the  streets  and  the  forms  of  majestic 
edifices  showing  darkly  against  the  light  reflected  from 
the  streets. 

"Why  is  it,"  I  inquired  of  my  companion,  "that  so 
few  lamps  are  visible  while  at  the  same  time  every  street 
seems  so  perfectly  illuminated?" 

"Because,"  he  replied,  "the  lights,  which  are  placed 
high  up  at  every  crossing,  are  covered  with  reflectors 
which  throw  down  the  rays  at  such  angles  that  the  streets 
are  all  equally  illuminated,  the  lamps  themselves  being 
placed  so  high  as  not  to  trouble  the  eye  with  their  glare." 

And  now  we  were  within  a  few  miles  of  the  city,  but 
instead  of  continuing  in  our  course,  which  would  have 
brought  us  directly  over  it,  we  swerved  to  the  right  and 
made  for  the  angle  of  the  bay  which  forms  the  head  of 
the  lake,  and  gives  to  the  city  a  water  front  of  about 
two  miles  in  extent.  We  got  a  glimpse  of  the  river, 
spanned  by  handsome  bridges,  and  a  view  of  the  stately 
street  which  fronts  the  beach,  the  buildings  being  all  on 
the  further  side,  with  stone  steps  leading  down  on  the 
nearer  side  to  the  water's  edge.  Presently  we  flew  past 
what  seemed  a  city  of  palaces  rising  directly  from  the 
water,  with  a  colossal  statue  of  a  man  wearing  a  gorgeous 
crown,  which  towered  high  over  all  in  the  center  and 


86  IONIA. 

was  brilliantly  illuminated  from  below  as  if  with  the  light 
of  day. 

Anticipating  m^-enquiry,  Mr.  Delphion  hastened  to 
explain  thisjwOnderful  spectacle. 

"That'-island  is  called  the  Acropolis,  and  contains  the 
goycfnment  buildings  and  the  palace  of  the  archon.  The 
statue  in  the  center  is  that  of  Timoleon,  the  great  king 
whose  memory  is  almost  worshiped  by  us.  The  pedestal 
is  made  of  immense  blocks  of  granite,  and  the  statue  it 
self  of  pure  silver  with  a  crown  of  gold  (said  to  be  the 
only  crown  he  ever  wore),  and  it  is  set  with  diamonds, 
which  in  any  other  part  of  the  world  would  represent  a 
value  almost  incalculable." 

Before  he  had  finished  speaking  the  Acropolis  had 
passed  out  of  sight,  and  we  were  approaching  with  slack 
ened  speed  a  row  of  handsome  villas  situated  on  the 
northern  shore,  and  over  one  of  them  the  ship  paused 
and  gently  fluttered  down  till  it  touched  the  center  of 
the  level  roof.  We  then  made  our  way  out,  the  sails  and 
fans  were  all  furled,  and  in  a  minute  the  vessel  was  fast 
moored  to  some  large  rings  of  metal  built  into  the  walls. 
I  would  fain  have  lingered  to  enjoy  the  entrancing  beauty 
of  the  lake  shimmering  in  the  rays  of  the  moon,  but 
realizing  that  Mr.  Delphion  must  be  anxious  to  embrace 
his  wife  and  daughter  after  his  long  absence,  I  made  no 
demur  when  invited  to  enter  with  them  what  appeared 
like  a  summer  house  standing  on  one  side,  and  found 
myself  in  an  elevator  which  conveyed  us  down  to  the 
interior  of  the  house.  Arriving  at  the  third  floor,  Dion 
invited  me  to  follow  him,  and  took  me  to  a  large  front 
room,  which  he  said  was  my  bedchamber.  Excusing 
himself  for  a  moment,  he  left  me  to  become  acquainted 
with  my  new  quarters  and  the  impression  produced  was 
favorable  in  the  extreme.  The  walls  and  ceiling  ap- 


A  FAR  COUNTRY.  87 

peared  to  be  luminous,  and  they  were  painted  by  a  mas 
ter  hand  in  representation  of  vines  and  flowers,  so  that 
I  might  have  fancied  myself  in  the  center  of  a  beautiful 
greenhouse.  The  floor  appeared  to  be  of  oxidized  silver, 
but  I  learned  afterwards  that  it  was  of  aluminum;  it  was 
covered,  except  near  the  walls,  by  a  rug  of  velvet  soft 
ness,  the  prevailing  tint  being  a  light  salmon  which  har 
monized  delightfully  with  the  greens  and  pale  blues  of  the 
walls  and  ceiling.  I  was  still  puzzling  over  the  source 
of  the  soft,  pleasing  light,  which  seemed  to  emanate 
from  the  walls  and  ceiling,  when  Dion  tapped  at  the  door, 
which  I  at  once  opened,  and  he  came  in,  carrying  my 
trunk  and  portmanteau,  which  he  had  fetched  down  from 
the  airship,  carrying  one  in  each  hand  as  easily  as  if  they 
had  been  a  pair  of  bandboxes.  I  began  to  apologize  for 
giving  him  that  trouble  but  he  would  not  listen  to  me, 
saying  it  was  no  trouble  at  all,  and  as  they  had  no  man 
servants  in  the  country  they  did  many  little  things  them 
selves  which  would  be  considered  beneath  a  gentleman's 
dignity  in  England,  but  which  were  right  for  a  gentle 
man  to  do  in  Ionia,  for  there  was  no  one  else  to  do  them. 
He  then  enquired  how  soon  I  should  be  ready  to  go 
down  stairs  to  meet  his  mother  and  sister,  and  I  told  him 
to  give  me  ten  minutes  to  remove  the  dust  of  travel  and 
I  should  be  at  his  service.  I  could  not  help  thinking  that 
I  should  present  rather  a  poor  figure  in  my  English 
clothes,  compared  with  Dion's  splendid  form,  clad  in 
the  graceful  Ionian  costume,  but  I  made  myself  as 
presentable  as  I  could  and  accompanied  him  to  the 
story  below,  wrhere  we  found  the  rest  of  the  family 
in  the  library,  a  long,  lofty  room,  lined  with  well-filled 
bookcases,  and  having  many  comfortable  chairs,  reading 
desks  and  globes  for  its  movable  furniture.  All  rose  as 
we  entered,  and  Mr.  Delphion  introduced  me  to  Helen, 


IONIA. 

his  wife,  and  Leda,  his  daughter.  I  saw  at  a  glance  that 
these  two  women  were  more  perfectly  beautiful  than  any 
that  I  had  ever  seen  before,  but  there  was  something 
also  which  impressed  me  more  profoundly,  and  that  was 
the  expression  of  calm  serenity,  high  intelligence,  purity 
and  goodness  which  their  faces  bore,  and  made  me  feel 
at  the  moment  as  if  I  were  in  the  presence  of  two  of  the 
angels  of  heaven  rather  than  of  mortals.  I  therefore 
bowed  profoundly  to  each,  spell-bound  for  the  moment 
and  unable  to  say  a  word  for  myself,  but  the  elder  lady 
stepped  forward  and  took  me  by  the  hand,  saying: 

"You  are  truly  welcome  to  our  home,  Alexander,  and 
I  hope  you  will  make  a  long  stay  with  us.  Jason  has  told 
us  a  great  deal  about  you  in  his  letters,  and  we  think 
very  highly  of  you.  We  wish  you  to  consider  yourself 
one  of  our  family,  and  we  are  delighted  to  have  you  with 
us." 

The  younger  lady  also  shook  hands  with  me,  saying 
that  it  was  a  new  and  very  pleasant  experience  to  have 
a  visitor  from  another  country  in  Ionia,  and  hoping  that 
I  should  enjoy  my  stay  amongst  them. 

I  made  my  acknowledgments  in  the  best  way  I  could, 
and  just  then  the  door  opened  and  another  beautiful 
feminine  form  appeared,  hardly  as  tall  as  the  others,  who 
were  much  above  the  average  height  of  English  women, 
but  almost  as  perfect  in  grace  of  figure  and  loveliness  of 
face  and  expression.  She  was  dressed  like  the  others, 
with  exquisite  taste,  but  wore  a  white  apron,  and  I  won 
dered  if  this  adorable  creature  could  possibly  be  a  house 
hold  servant.  As  soon  as  she  appeared,  my  hostess  said: 

"Here  is  our  cousin,  Eurydice,  come  to  tell  us  that 
supper  is  ready.  She  does  not  speak  English  very  well, 
but  knows  French  perfectly,  which  I  presume  you  do 
too,  Alexander?" 


A  FAR  COUNTRY.  89 

I  said  that  I  understood  French  pretty  well,  so  I  was 
introduced  in  that  language  to  the  charming  cousin 
Eurydice,  and  then  we  all  went  down  together  to  the 
dining  room,  and  sat  down  to  supper.  Eurydice  waited 
on  us  and  then  took  her  place  at  the  table  with  the  rest, 
and  was  treated  so  entirely  as  one  of  the  family  that  as 
soon  as  she  was  seated,  the  conversation  was  at  once 
changed  from  English  to  French,  so  that  she  might 
understand  and  take  her  part  in  it  with  the  rest. 

I  learned  afterwards  that  this  was  the  universal  cus 
tom  in  Ionia,  the  lady  help,  when  there  is  one,  being 
always  called  cousin,  and  treated  as  one  of  the  family, 
a  striking  contrast  to  the  custom  in  England,  where  the 
lady  help  is  only  different  from  a  common  servant  in  ( 
having  harder  work  and  poorer  pay.  In  Ionia  no  kind 
of  labor  is  considered  menial  or  degrading,  and  no  one 
is  looked  down  upon  for  having  to  work  for  a  living, — / 
idleness  only  is  considered  unworthy  and  contemptible. 
The  room  in  which  this  pleasant  family  party  were  as 
sembled  excited  my  admiration  by  the  beautiful  painting 
of  the  walls  and  ceiling.  Slender  pilasters  of  some  white 
metal  divided  the  walls,  and  the  spaces  between  them 
were  filled  with  exquisitely  painted  landscapes  represent 
ing  pastoral  and  hunting  scenes;  while  the  ceiling  was 
painted  like  the  sky,  covered  by  a  transparent  veil  of 
cirrus  clouds.  All  the  light  in  the  room  came  from 
ceiling  and  wall,  and  every  portion  of  it  was  clearly 
illuminated  without  glare  or  harshness.  I  expressed 
my  admiration  of  the  beautiful  soft  light,  and  asked  my 
hostess,  at  whose  right  hand  I  sat,  how  it  was  accom 
plished. 

'The  lamps,"  she  said,  "are  placed  in  front  of  the  cove, 
which  joins  wall  and  ceiling,  and  if  you  look  closely  you 
will  see  that  they  are  held  in  a  frame  which  runs  all  round 


90  IONIA. 

the  room,  the  other  side  of  which  has  reflecting  surfaces, 
which  diffuse  the  light  equally,  while  the  side  nearest 
you,  being  in  the  shade  and  painted  just  like  the  ceiling, 
is  but  indistinctly  seen.  In  this  way  we  avoid  the  harm 
ful  effect  of  any  strong  light  upon  the  eyes,  and  retain 
our  powers  of  vision  unimpaired." 

'That  is  quite  ingenious,"  I  said,  "and  the  effect  is 
delightful.  Do  many  of  your  people  have  their  dwell 
ings  lighted  in  that  way?" 

"All,"  she  said,  "and  our  public  buildings  are  lighted 
in  the  same  way.  We  avoid  glare  in  the  streets  also  by 
having  the  lamps  so  high  that  no  one  can  see  them  with 
out  looking  directly  upwards,  which  is  very  seldom 
necessary." 

"That,  also,  is  a  very  great  improvement  upon  our 
method,  for,  since  the  introduction  of  electric  lighting, 
the  dangers  of  street  crossings  in  London  and  other  cities 
are  very  much  increased,  and  the  glare  of  the  arc  lights 
is  not  only  disagreeable  but  injurious  to  the  eye  as 
well." 

"I  hope  you  will  find  other  things  to  admire  in  Ionia, 
but  should  you  find  us  deficient  in  any  way,  you  must 
be  sure  to  enlighten  us,  and  you  will  find  us  very  willing 
to  adopt  any  improvement  which  your  larger  experience 
of  the  world  may  suggest." 

"My  attitude  here,"  said  I,  "shall  be  that  of  a  humble 
learner,  and  I  am  sure  I  shall  not  have  the  presumption 
to  assume  the  role  of  teacher  in  any  department  of  hu 
man  knowledge." 

"And  yet,  Alexander,"  said  the  beautiful  Leda,  "you 
can  teach  us  much  if  you  will.  In  the  matter  of  English 
speech,  for  instance,  we  know  that  we  must  be  very  de 
fective,  all  except  my  father,  for  we  have  never  heard 


A  FAR  COUNTRY.  91 

a  word  of  it  pronounced  by  a  native  of  your  country 
before." 

"But  you  all  speak  it  very  well  indeed.  I  never  heard 
English  so  beautifully  spoken  as  here  to-night." 

"Oh,  you  must  not  flatter  us,"  said  Leda,  "and  we  are 
not  going  to  ask  you  to  play  the  part  of  professor,  either, 
but  just  promise  to  correct  us  when  you  find  us  going 
far  wrong,  and  you  will  find  us  quite  grateful." 

"I  promise,"  said  I,  "but  my  task  will  be  an  easy  one, 
judging  by  all  that  I  have  heard  so  far." 

"You  have  traveled  in  many  countries,"  said  the  lady 
Helen,  "while  we  have  always  lived  in  one,  and  there 
must,  therefore,  be  many  things  familiar  to  you  of  which 
we  are  ignorant,  so  you  will  be  able  to  instruct  us  in 
some  things  while  we  shall  be  delighted  to  show  you  all 
that  may  be  of  interest  to  you  here.  And  you  have  ar 
rived  in  time  to  be  present  at  our  great  yearly  festival 
of  the  national  games  which  are  to  be  celebrated  here 
next  week." 

"And  what  are  they?  Are  they  at  all  similar  to  the 
ancient  Olympian  games?" 

"They  are  similar  and  they  are  different,  but  my  hus 
band  can  tell  you  better  about  that  than  I." 

Thus  appealed  to,  my  host  proceeded  to  explain: 

"Our  modern  games  are  different  in  one  important 
respect,  for  whereas  the  ancients  admitted  only  the  male 
sex  to  the  festival,  we  admit  both  sexes,  although  only 
men  and  boys  take  part  in  the  different  contests.  Hence 
our  modern  athletes  are  dressed  similarly  to  your  own, 
while  the  ancients  wore  no  clothing  at  all.  Something 
is,  no  doubt,  lost  of  the  beauty  of  the  spectacle  by  cover 
ing  the  handsome  forms  of  the  supple  and  muscular 
youths  who  compete  for  the  prizes  in  running,  leaping, 
wrestling,  etc.,  but  much  more  is  gained  by  the  admis- 


92  IONIA. 

sion  of  their  sisters,  cousins  and  mothers  to  the  enter 
tainment.  And  we  think  too  much  of  the  ladies  nowa 
days  to  debar  them  from  the  enjoyment  of  these  great 
exhibitions  of  skill  and  strength.  In  other  respects,  our 
games  are  very  similar  to  those  of  the  great  Hellenic 
festivals  of  old,  except  that  in  place  of  chariot  races  we 
have  rowing  matches,  and  flying  contests  between  dif- 
erent  classes  of  air  vessels.  The  use  of  the  horse  has 
been  almost  entirely  discontinued  in  Ionia,  hence  chariot 
races  would  be  out  of  place  amongst  us." 

"And  so  you  are  as  much  devoted  as  your  ancestors  to 
physical  culture?" 

"As  much  or  possibly  more.  Our  national  games  are 
attended  by  a  larger  concourse  of  people  than  ever  the 
Olympian  games  were,  and  these  were  held  every  four 
years  only,  while  ours  is  an  annual  festival." 

"Moreover,  every  district  of  the  country  and  every  city 

and  town  has  its  annual  games,  from  which  competitors 

are  selected  to  take  part  in  the  national  races.     Every 

school  has  its  gymnasium,  and  physical  training  precedes 

the  mental  and  accompanies  it.     The  girls  are  trained 

as  well  as  the  boys,  though  not  exactly  in  the  same  way. 

•  They  become  very  expert  in  many  athletic  sports  and 

exercises,  but  their  modesty  prevents  them  exhibiting 

^themselves  in  any  public  spectacle." 

"And  how  about  the  prizes?"  I  asked.  "The  ancients 
were  satisfied  with  the  honor  of  being  crowned  with  a 
wreath  of  wild  cherry.  Does  that  custom  still  remain 
with  you,  or  are  more  substantial  rewards  now  given?" 

"The  wreath  of  cherry  leaves  is  still  the  victor's  only 
reward,  except  that  in  addition  his  name  is  engraved  on 
the  wall  which  surrounds  the  arena — a  massive  wall  of 
granite  one-third  of  a  mile  in  extent, — and  thus  the  vic 
tor  achieves  a  kind  of  immortality  which  is  very  much 
sought  after." 


A  FAR  COUNTRY.  93 

"And  may  I  ask  if  the  name  of  Jason  Delphion  is  in 
scribed  on  that  wall?" 

"Oh,  yes,"  said  Leda,  "in  more  places  than  one.  And 
we  hope  to  see  Dion's  name  there,  too,  after  next  week." 

"A  hope,"  said  Dion,  "which  is  very  likely  to  be  dis 
appointed." 

"This  is  becoming  very  interesting,"  said  I.  "Of  what 
nature  are  the  contests  you  are  to  engage  in?" 

"I  am  entered  for  two  races,  one  rowing  and  one  fly 
ing.  I  hardly  hope  to  win  the  former,  for  I  have  not 
practiced  so  assiduously  as  some  others.  As  to  the  lat 
ter,  much  depends  upon  chance;  one  cannot  foretell  how 
the  wind  may  blow  at  any  particular  elevation,  and  it 
is  very  easy  to  miscalculate.  The  flying  race  I  am  en 
tered  for  is  that  of  the  skylarks,  the  smallest  kind  of  air- 
vessel,  carrying  only  one  person,  and  a  very  slight  puff 
of  wind  has  a  great  effect  upon  them,  so  you  see  no  one 
can  have  any  certainty  of  victory,  whatever  may  be  his 
skill  or  the  perfection  of  his  vessel." 

"May  favoring  winds  attend  you,"  said  I,  "but  how 
am  I  to  attend  this  great  festival  in  these  outlandish 
English  clothes.  Have  I  time  to  get  myself  fitted  out 
with  Ionian  garments  before  next  week?" 

"Directly  after  breakfast  you  will  be  waited  upon  by 
a  member  of  one  of  our  tailoring  firms,  who  will  pro 
vide  you  with  a  complete  outfit  by  noon,  and  before  even 
ing  you  can  have  as  many  suits  as  you  wish." 

"That  will  be  delightful,"  said  I,  "and  pray  tell  me  at 
\vhat  hour  you  usually  breakfast?" 

"Eight  o'clock  is  the  universal  breakfast  hour  in  the 
city,  and  by  nine  everybody  is  at  work;  business  men, 
artists,  mechanics,  professors  in  the  university,  and  teach 
ers  in  schools ;  all  have  the  same  work  hours,  which  are 
from  nine  to  three.  Four  o'clock  is  the  universal  hour 


94  IONIA. 

for  dinner,  and  these  are  our  principal,  and,  with  many 
people,  the  only  meals,  although  a  light  supper  before 
bedtime  is  not  at  all  uncommon,  and  in  this  house  we 
always  have  a  little  supper,  and  we  like  to  linger  over 
it,  for  there  is  nothing  to  do  afterwards  but  retire  to  rest, 
and  it  affords  a  pleasant  opportunity  to  talk  over  the 
events  of  the  day." 

I  looked  at  my  watch  and  found  it  was  near  twelve 
o'clock,  and  guessing  rightly  that  they  were  up  long 
past  the  usual  bedtime,  I  pleaded  fatigue  after  the  events 
and  excitements  of  the  day,  and  said  good-night  to  all. 

Dion  took  me  up  in  the  elevator,  and  as  we  went  asked 
if  I  was  fond  of  swimming. 

"Because,"  said  he,  "my  sister  and  I  go  for  a  swim 
every  morning  in  the  open  air,  and  we  should  be  glad  to 
have  you  go  with  us." 

"At  what  hour?" 

"We  rise  at  six  and  leave  the  house  at  about  a  quarter 
past.  Fifteen  minutes'  walk  takes  us  to  the  "Quarry," 
and  we  spend  about  an  hour  there,  which  leaves  us  ample 
time  to  get  back  to  breakfast  without  hurry." 

"Six  o'clock  sounds  to  me  a  frightfully  early  hour,  and 
I  have  a  good  excuse  for  not  going  to-morrow  in  the 
lack  of  suitable  clothing,  but  after  to-morrow  I  shall  be 
delighted  to  go  with  you,  and  I  feel  grateful  to  you  for 
the  invitation." 

"You  must  not  say  that;  it  will  be  very  pleasant  to 
have  you  go  with  us.  And  now  you  must  need  rest,  so 
I  shall  wish  you  good-night  and  a  sound  sleep." 

I  felt  too  much  agitated  by  the  novelty  of  my  situation 
and  the  recollection  of  the  strange  journey  I  had  made 
to  go  to  sleep  at  once,  so  when  I  had  undressed  and 
turned  out  the  lights  I  pulled  up  the  blind  and  sat  down 
by  one  of  the  windows  to  see  what  I  could  of  this  new 


A  FAR  COUNTRY.  95 

world  by  moonlight.    The  air  was  wonderfully  clear  and 
transparent,  so  that  almost  the  whole  extent  of  the  lake 
was  visible,  hemmed  round  on  every  side  by  hills.    Here 
a  great  precipice  rose  sheer  from  the  water's  edge,  and 
there  an  arm  of  the  lake  or  some  tributary  stream  opened 
up  a  far-reaching  glen,  bordered  by  dark  woods  and  ro 
mantic  valleys,  but  in  the  background  the  mountains 
rose  higher  and  higher,  and  distant  snowy  peaks  were 
to  be  seen  on  every  side.    Away  in  the  east  towered  one 
which  dwarfed  all  the    others,  rising    far    towards    the 
zenith,  all  I  could  see  of  it  being  of  dazzling  white,  which 
showed  its  outline  clearly  against  the  pale  blue  of  the 
sky.    Between  me  and  it  lay  the  Acropolis,  crowded  with 
palaces  sharply  outlined  against  the  mountain's  snowy 
sides.     They  made  a  noble  picture,  and  I  could  readily 
perceive  that  they  were  amongst  the  grandest  efforts  of 
human  genius,  but  the  grandeur  of  nature's  handiwork 
in  that  stupendous  mountain,  towering  in  the  distance 
against  the  sky,  seemed  to  my  eyes  to  dwarf  them  as  the 
years  of  time  are  dwarfed  when  we  think  of  eternity,  and 
I  felt  crushed  by  a  sense  of  my  own  insignificance.     I 
had  dreamed  of  accomplishing  great  things  in  the  world, 
and  possibly  of  making  a  name  for  myself  that  would 
long  be  remembered,  but  yonder  awful  peak  had  looked 
down  upon  the  world  millions  of  years  before  I  was  born, 
and  would  continue  to  do  so  for  as  many  millions  more 
after  my  bones  had  crumbled  into  dust,  and  beside  it  I 
was  no  greater  than  an  insect  creeping  about  an  ant-hill 
at  its  base.    I  turned  my  eyes  upon  the  city,  sleeping  in 
the  moonlight,  and  it  seemed  like  the  creation  of  some 
magician's  wand  called  into  existence  in  the  night,  for 
not  a  sign  of  life  was  there.     The  lights  were  out,  and 
not  a  particle  of  smoke  hung  over  its  chimneys;  indeed, 
I  could  see  nothing  that  looked  like  a  chimney,  but  tow- 


96  IONIA. 

ers  and  domes  innumerable,  and  many  forms  of  archi 
tectural  beauty,  and  every  stone  as  clean  and  bright  as 
if  they  had  been  put  together  yesterday.  Over  all 
reigned  a  silence  so  profound  that  it  seemed  as  if  I  could 
hear  the  beating  of  my  heart.  Scarce  a  breath  of  air  was 
stirring,  and  only  now  and  again  a  tiny  wavelet  broke 
upon  the  beach  below  to  emphasize  the  general  stillness. 
The  scene  was  very  beautiful,  but  the  extreme  absence 
of  sound  and  human  activity  made  it  seem  unreal  and 
dream-like,  so  I  turned  to  my  bed  to  seek  repose  as  one 
turns  to  sleep  again  after  being  but  half-awakened  from 
a  dream. 

I  awoke  with  a  start  in  the  morning,  the  sunshine 
streaming  into  my  room  through  the  window,  which  I 
had  left  uncurtained.  I  feared  I  might  be  late  for  break 
fast,  and  I  guessed  rightly  that  the  lonians  are  a  very 
punctual  people,  who,  when  they  name  an  hour  mean 
that  time  exactly,  and  not  ten  or  fifteen  minutes  after  it. 
But  on  looking  at  my  watch,  I  was  glad  to  find  that  I 
had  plenty  of  time  for  my  morning  tub,  and  plenty  of 
leisure  for  dressing  afterwards.  What  a  change  the 
scene  without  presented  from  the  night  before.  The 
great  white  mountain,  which  had  filled  my  spirits  with 
awe,  now  looked  like  a  ghostly  film  in  the  distance,  while 
near  at  hand  all  was  life  and  motion.  A  gentle  breeze 
covered  the  lake  with  golden,  shining  ripples;  handsome 
boats  and  barges  skimmed  its  surface  far  and  near,  and 
at  least  a  score  of  airships  could  be  seen  cleaving  their 
way  towards  the  city  at  dizzy  heights  in  the  atmosphere. 
The  city  itself,  shining  in  the  morning  light,  had  the 
same  appearance  of  freshness  that  struck  me  tne  night 
before,  being  perfectly  free  from  the  grime  and  dust  that 
discolor  all  European  buildings,  and  yet  I  could  see  that 
some  of  the  walls  before  me  were  mellowed  by  time, 


A  FAR  COUNTRY.  97 

while  others  were  as  clear  and  bright  as  if  the  stones 
had  been  quarried  the  day  before.  And  it  seemed  from 
my  point  of  view  to  be  full  of  splendid  edifices,  as  if  all 
the  temples  and  choicest  buildings  of  Europe  had  been 
massed  together  in  one  place.  One  street  only  I  could 
see  distinctly,  and  that  was  the  one  fronting  the  lake. 
The  buildings  were  on  one  side  only,  with  a  broad  street 
of  smooth  cement  in  front,  and  then  a  flight  of  wide 
stone  steps  leading  down  to  the  gravelly  beach.  The 
street  was  something  more  than  a  mile  in  length,  and 
about  the  center  appeared  a  handsome  bridge  of  a  singh 
span,  under  which  the  river  flowed  into  the  lake.  Six 
imposing  buildings  with  ample  spaces  between  filled  the 
street  from  the  nearest  angle  of  the  bay  to  the  river. 
They  were  all  of  marble,  but  each  of  a  different  shade. 
Their  architecture  was  different  in  style  from  anything 
I  had  ever  seen,  but  very  beautiful,  and  altogether  they 
made  a  picture  of  such  magnificence  and  splendor  as 
infinitely  to  surpass  anything  I  had  ever  seen  before. 
The  buildings  on  the  farther  side  of  the  river  appeared 
to  be  on  the  same  scale  of  grandeur  and  beauty,  but  of 
course  I  could  not  see  them  so  well. 

A  few  pedestrians  appeared  on  the  street,  and  some 
carriages  propelled  swiftly  along  without  either  horses 
or  steam,  but  there  was  no  crowd  or  bustle;  evidently 
the  full  tide  of  the  city's  life  had  not  yet  commenced  to 
flow. 

The  only  dwelling  houses  I  could  discover  at  first  were 
those  situated  near  the  Delphion  mansion,  on  the  north 
shore  of  the  lake.  They  were  all  built  well  back  from  the 
road,  which  ran  parallel  to  the  lake  and  about  fifty  feet 
from  the  water's  edge.  It  was  of  hard  cement,  like  the 
street  on  the  city's  front,  w7ith  sidewalks  of  some  darker 
material,  and  all  as  clean  and  free  from  dust  as  if  they 
7 


98  IONIA. 

had  just  been  scrubbed  with  soap  and  water.  A  con 
tinuous  green  lawn  surrounded  the  houses,  extending  as 
far  to  right  and  left  as  I  could  see,  with  noble  shade  trees 
growing  at  intervals.  Looking  across  the  lake  I  could 
see  a  line  of  similar  villas  on  the  south  shore,  with  others 
back  of  them  on  the  lower  slopes  of  the  hills,  and  the 
transparency  of  the  atmosphere  was  so  perfect  that  I 
could  distinguish  the  colors  of  the  dresses  of  some  peo 
ple  moving  about  amongst  them  at  a  distance  of  not  less 
than  two  miles. 


CHAPTER    V. 
AMONGST   NEW   FRIENDS. 

When  the  family  were  assembled  at  the  breakfast  table, 
I  expressed  my  admiration  of  their  magnificent  city  and 
its  glorious  situation,  but  remarked  that  I  could  see  noth 
ing  but  public  buildings,  and  that  I  could  not  understand 
where  the  people  lived. 

"That  is  very  easily  explained,"  said  my  hostess,  "for 
most  of  the  dwelling  houses  are  on  the  other  side  of  the 
river,  and  a  majority  of  the  public  buildings  and  all  the 
larger  stores  are  on  this  side." 

"And  what  is  that  splendid  line  of  buildings  fronting 
the  lake  between  us  and  the  bridge?" 

"Those  are  the  university  buildings." 

"Oh,  the  university!  Magnificent!  It  niusT'be*an 
cation  merely  to  have  such  beautiful  structures  before 
one's  eyes  every  day.  And  they  are  very  extensive,  too. 
Do  the  young  people  of  the  whole  country  come  to 
lolkos  to  finish  their  education?" 

"By  no  means;  every  district  has  its  university, — there 
are  five  of  them  altogether,  and  the  others  are  not  far 


AMONGST  NEW  FRIENDS.  99 

behind  the  university  of  lolkos  either  in  extent,  beauty 
of  architecture  or  excellence  of  instruction." 

"Then  I  trust  the  youth  of  Ionia  appreciate  their  un 
rivaled  advantages.  Would  it  be  permitted  to  a  stran 
ger,  like  myself,  to  inspect  these  palatial  halls?  I  mean 
the  interior  as  well  as  the  exterior." 

'There  is  no  public  building  in  the  country,"  said 
Jason,  "which  you  may  not  enter  unchallenged.  As  for 
the  university,  there  is  nothing  to  prevent  you  from  at 
tending  any  of  the  classes  if  you  are  inclined  to  do  so, 
and  thus  learning  something  of  our  methods  of  edu 
cation." 

"That  would  be  useless  until  I  know  more  of  the  lan 
guage  than  I  do  now.  And  my  stay  will  hardly  be  long 
enough  to  enable  me  to  profit  by  any  course  of  instruc 
tion." 

"I  did  not  mean  that,"  said  my  host,  "and  I  should 
not  for  a  moment  entertain  the  idea  that  there  is  any 
need  for  you  to  become  a  pupil  in  any  of  our  schools. 
But  you  have  come  here  to  find  out  what  we  are,  and 
our  system  of  education  has  much  to  do  with  what  we 
are,  so  you  will  probably  desire  to  know  something 
about  it.  As  for  your  ignorance  of  our  language,  that 
is  not  so  great  as  your  modesty  would  have  us  believe, 
and  I  have  no  doubt  but  you  will  be  able  to  speak  it  in 
a  few  weeks  as  well  as  you  read  it  now.  But  even  that 
difficulty  would  not  stand  in  your  way  in  some  of  the 
class  rooms, — those,  for  instance,  where  English,  French 
or  German  literature  are  studied,  for  in  these  the  instruc 
tion  is  given  in  the  language  which  belongs  to  the  sub 
ject  of  the  course.  In  fact,  a  visit  from  you  to  the  class 
of  English  literature  would  be  hailed  as  an  event  of  very 
great  importance,  and  I  think  you  could  not  very  well 
escape  without  saying  a  few  words  to  the  students,  who 


100  IONIA. 

would  naturally  be  anxious  to  hear  how  an  Englishman 
speaks  his  own  tongue." 

"Then  I  am  afraid  I  shall  studiously  avoid  paying  a 
visit  to  that  class,  for  I  am  no  speaker." 

"Perhaps  they  would  be  content  with  a  reading  from 
Macaulay,  or  Gibbon,  or  say  Milton?" 

"That  would  not  be  quite  so  bad." 

"That  would  be  delightful,"  said  Leda,  "I  should  like 
to  be  there  and  hear  it.  But  perhaps  you  will  be  so 
good  as  to  read  to  us  sometimes." 

"I  would  gladly  do  anything,"  said  I,  "that  would  give 
you  pleasure,  but  the  truth  is  I  am  not  much  of  a  reader, 
either.  It  is  true  I  used  to  take  great  delight  in  read 
ing  to  my  mother,  but  she  was  not  a  critical  listener,  and 
was  always  interested  if  she  thought  the  subject  inter 
ested  me." 

"Nor  shall  we  be  critical,"  said  Leda,  "nor  very  ex 
acting,  either,  but  it  will  be  a  great  treat  to  us  to  hear  an 
English  classic  rendered  by  an  English  tongue." 

"Very  well,"  said  I,  "I  promise  one  reading  at  any  time 
you  may  wish  it,  but  I  think  very  likely  one  will  be 
enough." 

"And  now,"  said  my  host,  "I  am  about  to  pay  my 
respects  to  our  archon,  and  if  it  will  suit  your  conveni 
ence,  I  shall  be  pleased  to  present  you  to  him  in  the 
afternoon." 

"I  am  entirely  at  your  service,"  said  I,  "but  I  trust 
by  that  time  I  shall  be  outwardly  presentable." 

"You  are  entirely  so  at  this  moment,"  said  Jason,  "but 
as  you  are  so  sensitive  on  the  point,  you  can  rest  assured 
that  you  will  have  it  in  your  power  to  dress  like  an  Ionian 
before  my  return." 

Very  soon  after  breakfast  I  received  a  visit  from  the 
tailor,  a  very  handsome,  gentlemanly  person,  not  quite 


AMONGST  NEW  FRIENDS.  101 

so  striking  a  figure  as  either  Dion  or  his  father,  but  very 
well  proportioned  and  athletic,  his  height  being  about 
six  feet,  which  I  found  afterwards  to  be  about  the  aver 
age  stature  of  the  men  of  Ionia.  He  knew  little  English, 
but  spoke  French  very  fluently,  and  like  a  well-educated 
man,  as  he  undoubtedly  was.  He  went  through  the  busi 
ness  of  taking  my  measurements  from  head  to  foot  in  a 
rapid,  business-like  way,  and  promised  me  a  complete 
outfit  in  about  three  hours. 

The  interval  I  spent  in  the  library,  which  I  found  a 
veritable  treasure-house,  one  side  of  it  being  devoted  to 
books  in  Greek,  ancient  and  modern,  and  the  other  to 
standard  works  in  all  the  European  languages.  They 
were  all  or  nearly  all  printed  in  Ionia,  and  in  typography, 
paper  and  binding  superior  to  even  the  best  productions 
of  our  English  press.  Every  book  had  foot-notes  in 
Greek,  and  I  foresaw  that  it  would  be  a  great  delight  to 
me  to  renew  the  acquaintance  of  my  favorite  authors  with 
the  new  light  which  these  annotations  would  throw  upon 
them.  I  went  round  from  one  case  to  another,  glancing 
at  a  passage  here  and  there  without  undertaking  any  seri 
ous  reading,  and  in  this  way  the  time  flew  by  very 
quickly,  and  I  was  perfectly  surprised  when  the  fair 
cousin,  Eurydice,  knocked  at  the  door  and  informed  me 
that  a  package  had  arrived  from  the  tailor  and  had  been 
taken  to  my  room,  whither  I  repaired  without  loss  of 
time,  as  eager  to  try  on  my  new  clothes  as  a  young  girl 
with  her  first  reception  costume;  but  I  took  longer  to 
get  into  that  suit  than  ever  I  spent  in  dressing  either  be 
fore  or  since,  for  I  had  to  find  out  the  manner  of  adjust 
ing  and  fastening  each  novel  garment.  At  length,  how 
ever,  the  task  was  completed,  and  I  surveyed  myself  in 
the  glass  with  considerable  satisfaction,  wondering,  how 
ever,  if  my  own  mother  would  know  me  if  she  could 


102  IONIA. 

meet  me  on  the  street  in  my  new  costume.  My  Eng 
lish  trousers  were  replaced  by  a  pair  of  knee-breeches 
of  dark  blue  velvet,  under  which  were  silk  stockings  of 
silver-gray.  A  tunic  of  fine  woolen  stuff  of  the  same 
color  as  the  small  clothes,  shoes  with  silver  buckles,  a 
shirt  of  cream-colored  silk,  with  a  standing  collar,  stiff 
ened  by  interior  crimping  and  showing  above  the  neck 
of  the  tunic, — these,  with  a  chapeau  of  fine  buff  felt  and 
picturesque  fashion,  completed  the  costume.  The  fit  of 
every  garment  \vas  perfect  and  there  was  a  feeling  of  ease 
and  snug  comfort  in  them  which  made  me  feel  that  I 
should  be  very  unwilling  to  don  my  stiff  and  heavy  Euro 
pean  garments  again.  Although  well  pleased  with  my 
general  appearance,  I  yet  felt  a  little  shame-faced  about 
venturing  downstairs  into  the  presence  of  my  hostess  and 
her  daughter,  and  lingered  unnecessarily  long  in  putting 
the  finishing  touches  to  my  toilet,  so  that  I  was  surprised 
when  Jason  himself  knocked  at  my  door  and  inquired  if 
I  was  ready  to  go  with  him.  I  opened  the  door,  and  in 
viting  him  in,  asked  him  to  tell  me  himself  whether  I 
looked  quite  ready. 

"You  are  so  completely  transformed  that  your  own 
mother  would  not  know  you,  and  you  need  not  be  afraid 
of  any  stranger  taking  you  for  a  foreigner.  But  come 
and  show  yourself  to  the  ladies,  their  opinion  is  worth 
twenty  of  mine  in  such  matters." 

"Well,  I  suppose  I  must  undergo  that  ordeal,  but  I  am 
afraid  they  will  think  me  simply  ridiculous." 

"And  why  ridiculous?" 

"Because  I  am  such  a  pigmy  beside  you  and  Dion. 
If  all  the  men  in  Ionia  are  like  you  two,  I  shall  always  be 
conspicuous  by  my  diminutive  stature." 

"Oh,  but  you  need  have  no  fears  on  that  head;  we 
have  plenty  of  men  in  this  country  who  are  under  five 


AMONGST  NEW  FRIENDS.  103 

feet  ten  inches  in  height,  and  that,  I  take  it,  is  just  about 
what  you  are." 

"Five  feet  ten  and  a  quarter,"  I  said,  proudly. 

"Come  along,  then,  you  will  pass  muster  in  a  regiment 
of  us  easily  enough." 

So  we  went,  and  the  ladies  were  very  kind,  and  even 
complimentary.  Leda  went  so  far  as  to  say  that  I  looked 
so  perfectly  like  an  Ionian  that  she  almost  regretted  the 
change,  for  it  was  so  interesting  to  have  a  real  live  Eng 
lishman  in  the  house.  Her  father,  she  said,  always 
looked  like  one  when  he  came  back  from  his  travels,  but 
they  knew  in  his  case  it  was  only  a  disguise,  and  he  al 
ways  made  haste  to  resume  his  ordinary  clothing,  and 
they  preferred  to  see  him  in  it,  too;  but  with  me  it  was 
the  other  way,  the  Ionian  dress  was  the  disguise,  and  it 
was  so  perfect  that  I  might  show  myself  on  the  streets  or 
anywhere  and  no  one  be  any  the  wiser. 

I  thanked  her  for  the  compliment,  and  set  out  with  my 
friend  without  any  further  misgiving. 

We  walked  about  a  quarter  of  a  mile  towards  the  city, 
and  then  found  awaiting  us  at  a  small  pier  extending 
from  the  front  street  a  very  handsome  barge  belonging 
to  the  government,  which  had  conveyed  my  friend  from 
the  Acropolis.  The  crew  were  two  gentlemen  in  hand 
some  uniforms,  and  I  was  introduced  to  them  as  a  mat 
ter  of  course,  and  they  very  politely  wished  me  a  pleas 
ant  stay  in  the  country,  and  hoped  they  could  be  of  ser 
vice  to  me  while  I  remained. 

We  had  not  far  to  go,  the  Acropolis  being  but  half  a 
mile  from  shore,  and  our  handsome  barge  skimmed 
through  the  water  very  swiftly.  The  lake  was  alive  with 
vessels  coming  from  and  going  to  the  city,  all  propelled 
without  steam  or  sails,  although  I  saw  one  or  two  sailing 
yachts  in  the  distance.  The  streets,  so  far  as  they  were 


104  IONIA. 

visible,  were  crowded  with  people  and  vehicles,  but  there 
was  none  of  the  noise  we  are  accustomed  to  in  our  busy 
streets,  the  smooth  pavements  and  rubber-tired  wheels  of 
Ionia  dispensing  with  noise,  and  if  I  had  but  shut  my 
eyes  I  might  have  fancied  myself  a  hundred  miles  away 
from  all  human  industry.  But  we  were  rapidly  ap 
proaching  the  Acropolis  itself,  the  splendors  of  which 
now  engrossed  all  my  attention.  The  island,  originally  ir 
regular  in  shape,  has  been  made  into  a  parallelogram,  six 
hundred  yards  long  by  four  hundred  wide,  the  rocks 
forming  its  surface  having  been  leveled  and  used  to 
change  its  shape  as  a  site  for  the  buildings  of  the  national 
government.  These  are  beyond  all  comparison  the  most 
magnificent  structures  ever  designed  by  human  genius, 
and  rising  directly  on  all  sides  from  deep  water,  are  seen 
to  great  advantage  from  every  side.  My  feelings  as  I 
approached  them  for  the  first  time  were  such  as  I  cannot 
put  into  words,  and  speech  failed  me  at  the  time.  I  took 
my  hat  from  head  and  stood  on  the  deck  of  the  barge  in 
mute  admiration  and  respect.  Then  seeing  Jason  ob 
serve  me  with  something  like  a  smile  on  his  face,  for 
there  were  tears  in  my  eyes,  I  grasped  his  hand,  and  said: 

"My  friend,  I  thank  you  for  bringing  me  to  Ionia." 

''Then,"  said  he,  "you  think  I  did  not  exaggerate  when 
I  told  you  we  had  edifices  more  splendid  than  anything 
that  Europe  has  ever  had  to  boast  of?" 

"You  never  prepared  me  for  this,"  I  said;  "it  seems 
like  the  work  of  gods,  and  not  men.  Our  grandest 
cathedrals,  the  work  of  five  hundred  years,  are  but  the 
bungling  efforts  of  apprentices  compared  with  this  mag 
nificent  display  of  architectural  grandeur." 

"And  yet,"  said  Jason,  "I  can  remember  when  there 
was  nothing  here  but  a  barren  and  unshapely  rock  from 
which,  as  a  boy,  I  have  caught  many  a  basket  of  fish." 


BUT  WE  WERE  RAPIDI/V  APPROACHING  THE  ACROPOUS 
ITSELF. — Page  104. 


AMONGST  NEW  FRIENDS.  105 

"That  makes  it  more  wonderful  still.  I  think,  after  all, 
you  have  carried  me  to  the  land  of  the  gods.  Human 
hands  as  I  know  them  could  not  accomplish  such  won 
ders  in  so  short  a  time  or  in  any  length  of  time." 

Three  canals  form  the  entrances  to  the  Acropolis,  one 
each  on  the  north,  south  and  west  sides.  The  east  side, 
being  farthest  from  the  city,  has  none.  We  entered  from 
the  west  under  a  magnificent  arch  of  white  marble 
adorned  with  splendid  carving  and  with  niches  rilled  with 
statuary,  both  on  the  outer  and  inner  faces.  Passing 
swiftly  through  we  found  ourselves  in  a  wide  canal,  bor 
dered  by  the  greenest,  most  velvety  turf  in  the  world  to 
a  breadth  of  twelve  feet  on  each  side;  beyond  this  a  wide 
stone  pavement  crowded  with  people  moving  swiftly  to 
and  fro,  and  on  both  sides  the  fronts  of  those  splendid 
palaces  which  had  filled  me  with  such  wonder  and  admi 
ration:  They  seemed  even  grander  from  this  point  of 
view  if  that  were  possible.  But  I  had  little  time  for  com 
parison,  for  in  a  few  seconds  our  barge  was  gliding  into 
the  central  basin  in  which  all  the  three  canals  unite.  The 
square  inclosing  this  basin  is  some  six  hundred  feet  from 
side  to  side,  and  in  the  center  of  all  stands  the  monument 
of  the  great  king.  A  mass  of  the  native  rock  rises  some 
ten  or  twelve  feet  from  the  water;  on  this  stands  a  mas 
sive  pillar  of  polished  granite,  and  upon  this  the  colossal 
statue  itself,  the  top  of  the  crown  reaching  to  a  height  of 
two  hundred  and  sixty  feet  from  the  base.  We  had  a 
magnificent  view  of  the  kingly  figure  as  we  approached, 
and  I  admired  its  fine  pr6portions  and  perfect  poise,  and 
found  grace  and  majesty  in  every  line.  Beyond  the 
monument,  and  fronting  the  side  from  which  we  came,  is 
the  Hall  of  the  Senate,  which  fills  one  whole  side  of  the 
square,  and  is  the  largest  building  on  the  island.  The 
other  three  sides  being  divided  by  the  canals,  are  occu- 


106  IONIA. 

pied  by  six  buildings,  the  palace  of  the  archon,  the  treas 
ury,  the  land  office,  and  the  offices  of  the  departments  of 
education,  irrigation  and  commerce.  We  landed  on  the 
steps  leading  to  the  Palace  of  the  Archon,  but  Jason,  see 
ing  me  inclined  to  linger,  waited  till  I  had  feasted  my 
eyes  on  the  architectural  splendors  of  the  grandest  build 
ings  ever  erected  by  man.  The  view  of  the  Acropolis  from 
the  lake  had  seemed  to  me  of  unapproachable  magnifi 
cence,  and  in  the  great  mass  of  buildings  presented  to  the 
eye  it  has  a  grandeur  of  effect  that  even  this  assembly  of 
master-pieces  could  not  surpass,  and  yet  the  splendor  of 
each  of  these  seven  palaces  of  marble  and  the  wonderful 
harmony  of  their  different  styles  excited  my  enthusiasm 
to  a  still  greater  degree,  and  I  felt  that  the  genius  of  the 
architect  had  achieved  in  this  square  his  highest  crown 
ing  glory.  We  entered  the  palace  and  were  conveyed  in 
an  elevator  to  the  uppermost  story,  where  the  chief  mag 
istrate  of  the  republic  spends  his  working  hours,  and  he 
is  said  to  be  the  hardest  working  man  in  the  country. 
Being  a  bachelor, he  has  no  family  of  his  own,  and  regards 
the  people  at  large  as  his  children,  and  never  tires  of  the 
labor  of  watching  over  their  welfare.  The  palace  is  his 
official  residence,  but  he  has  never  lived  in  it,  preferring 
a  modest  residence  which  he  owns  on  the  lake  shore,  not 
far  from  that  of  the  Delphions.  Minos  has  been  archon 
for  nearly  thirty  years,  and  at  the  age  of  ninety  still  pre 
sides  over  the  destinies  of  Ionia  with  unabated  vigor,  and 
his  name  ranks  in  the  estimation  of  the  people  as  second 
only  to  that  of  the  great  King  Timoleon. 

We  were  not  kept  waiting  long  in  the  ante-room,  and 
were  ushered  into  the  presence  of  the  archon  by  a  tall 
and  handsomely  dressed  gentleman  of  fine  presence  and 
bearing.  The  room  was  very  large  and  lofty,  and  lighted 
by  four  windows  looking  out  on  the  central  square, 


AMONGST  NEW  FRIENDS.  107 

through  which  could  be  seen  to  great  advantage  the  ad 
jacent  buildings  and  the  colossal  statue  of  the  king. 
Minos  rose  as  we  approached,  and  hardly  waiting  for  the 
ceremony  of  introduction,  grasped  my  hand  warmly,  and 
said: 

''Alexander,  I  am  very  glad  to  see  you,  and  I  bid  you 
a  hearty  welcome  to  our  country.  You  are  the  first 
Englishman  to  set  foot  in  Ionia,  and  the  first  European 
we  have  seen  for  three  hundred  years.  I  am  afraid  we 
are  not  a  very  hospitable  people,  and  we  are  so  well  sat 
isfied  with  ourselves  that  we  have  no  desire  to  have  the 
rest  of  the  world  come  and  find  out  all  the  great  things 
we  have  accomplished  and  admire  them.  On  the  con 
trary  we  should  be  very  well  content  to  go  on  living  in 
our  own  way,  and  allow  the  rest  of  the  world  to  go  on  its 
way  without  ever  suspecting  our  existence.  But  we  have 
an  idea  that  the  way  of  the  world  at  large  is  a  very  bad 
way,  and  some  of  us  have  had  rather  an  uneasy  spot  in 
our  consciences  in  regard  to  our  fellow-creatures  on  the 
other  side  of  the  mountains  which  guard  our  country  so 
securely.  While  the  outside  world  has  been  stumbling  ~~^ 
blindly  on  in  the  old,  bad  way  of  short-sighted  folly,  we  / 
have  attained  to  a  higher  level  of  light  and  truth,  and  / 
breathe  a  purer  and  diviner  air.  It  is  true  that  humanity  / 
at  large  accepts  all  its  miseries  as  inevitable,  and  calmly  I 
lays  upon  God  the  responsibility  of  its  sins  and  suffer 
ings,  but  we  know  that  these  are  not  necessary  elements 
of  human  life,  which  can  be  made  wholly  admirable, 
worthy  and  felicitous.  And  thus  the  question  has  often 
forced  itself  upon  us  whether  we  are  justified  in  keeping 
to  ourselves  the  benefits  which  our  wise  laws  have  in 
sured  to  us,  rather  than  risking  our  own  well-being  by 
proclaiming  our  existence  to  our  fellow-men,  and  en 
deavoring  to  bring  them  round  to  the  adoption  of  our 


108  IONIA. 

laws  and  customs.  During  the  last  hundred  years  many 
of  our  citizens  have  offered  to  go  out  into  the  world  as 
missionaries  and  teach  men  how  to  live,  but  our  fore 
fathers  have  refused  permission  to  those  who  thus  sought 
to  make  martyrs  of  themselves  on  the  ground  that  the 
danger  to  our  own  well-being  was  infinitely  greater  than 
the  prospect  of  benefit  to  those  whom  we  in  the  fashion 
of  our  ancestors  still  call  barbarians. 

"But  we  feel  the  responsibility  just  the  same,  and  my 
friend  Jason  and  I  have  often  talked  of  it,  and  he  it  was, 
I  think,  that  suggested  the  middle  course  of  finding  in 
the  outside  world  a  man  entirely  devoted  to  the  interests 
of  his  fellows;  a  man  of  intelligence  and  liberal  ideas,  and 
bringing  him  here  to  see  with  his  own  eyes  what  has 
been  accomplished  by  following  the  dictates  of  reason 
and  common  sense.  I  gave  the  proposition  my  hearty 
acquiescence,  and  he  has  been  seeking  the  man  we 
wanted  through  every  country  in  Europe,  but  seeking  in 
vain  until  some  lucky  chance  enabled  him  to  make  your 
acquaintance,  and  it  did  not  take  him  long  to  decide  that 
you  were  worthy  of  our  confidence.  He  wrote  me  a 
long  letter  explaining  the  work  you  were  engaged  in, 
and  the  spirit  which  animated  you,  and  without  a  day's 
delay  I  caused  a  telegram  to  be  sent  him  authorizing 
him  to  bring  you  back  with  him. 

"And  so  you  can  understand  that  when  I  tell  you  I  am 
glad  to  see  you,  it  is  in  no  formal  spirit  of  politeness,  but 
spoken  from  the  heart,  and  your  arrival  takes  from  me 
a  burden  which  my  old  shoulders  are  weary  of,  and  I  am 
beyond  measure  relieved  to  have  it  assumed  by  you,  who 
although  you  are  so  young,  have  already  proved  yourself 
wiser  than  many  hoary  headed  sages  of  your  country." 

"I  have  no  words,"  said  I,  "to  express  the  greatness  of 
the  honor  you  have  done  me,  nor  do  I  underestimate  the 


AMONGST  NEW  FRIENDS.  109 

greatness  of  the  responsibility  you  invite  me  to  assume. 
Far  be  it  from  me  to  decline  it,  for  it  has  been  the  dream 
of  my  life  to  deliver  the  less  fortunate  of  my  fellow-coun 
trymen  from  the  load  of  misery  under  which  they  have 
suffered.  I  am  rejoiced  to  think  that  perhaps  after  all 
my  dreams  may  in  some  measure  be  realized,  but  it  may 
be  that  I  am  one  of  those  fools  who  rush  in  where  angels 
fear  to  tread,  and  I  would  ask  you,  Minos,  in  all  rever 
ence  and  respect,  why  it  is  that  you  in  your  ripe  wisdom 
are  so  willing  to  place  so  great  a  trust  in  me,  who  am  not 
only  young  and  inexperienced,  but  up  to  this  day,  a  total 
stranger  to  you?" 

''Nay,  Alexander,  not  a  stranger.  Although  you  do 
not  know  me,  I  know  you  very  well,  and  while  I  know 
much  that  is  good,  I  know  nothing  that  is  evil,  and  noth 
ing  that  would  render  you  unfit  to  be  entrusted  with  this 
great  responsibility.  Although  I  have  never  been  out  of 
Ionia,  I  know  a  great  deal  of  the  world  beyond.  I  have 
seen  it  with  Jason's  eyes,  and  heard  it  through  his  ears, 
and  even  if  you  were  a  stranger  to  me  as  you  say,  I  rely 
on  his  judgment  as  if  it  were  my  own,  and  when  he  says, 
'This  is  the  man  we  have  sought,'  it  is  enough,  and  it 
would  ill  become  me  to  put  you  through  a  course  of  ex 
amination  as  to  the  character  of  your  aspirations  or  the 
extent  of  your  learning.  And  so,  Alexander,  while  I 
hope  to  become  better  acquainted  with  you  before  you 
leave  us,  it  will  simply  be  in  friendship,  and  not  in  any 
spirit  of  criticism  or  uncertainty  as  to  your  fitness  for  the 
task  we  have  imposed  upon  you.  Jason's  friend  is  above 
suspicion." 

"I  am  afraid,"  I  said,  "you  compliment  me  far  more 
highly  than  my  poor  merits  would  warrant.  I  could 
wish  no  higher  title  than  that  of  Jason's  friend,"  and  of- 


iio  IONIA. 

fering  my  hand  to  Mr.  Delphion,  I  said:  "I  trust  I  shall 
never  disgrace  that  title." 

"You  never  will,"  said  he.  "And  let  me  tell  you  that 
our  archon  is  not  given  to  flattery.  I  have  never  heard 
him  praise  a  man  so  much  as  he  has  done  you,  but  the 
greatness  of  the  occasion  warrants  it.  I  have  chosen 
you  amongst  all  the  men  I  have  ever  met  as  the  only  one 
fit  to  be  entrusted  with  this  great  task,  and  it  is  well  that 
you  should  know  in  what  esteem  you  are  held  by  us." 

"It  is  a  great  responsibility,  and  although  I  do  not 
shrink  from  it  I  fear  that  the  consequences  of  it  will 
weigh  upon  my  spirits  and  interfere  with  the  perfect  en 
joyment  of  my  visit." 

"This  must  not  be,"  said  Minos;  "you  are  here  as  our 
guest,  and  your  stay  is  to  be  a  long  one,  and  it  would  be 
a  matter  of  great  regret  to  us  if  you  did  not  find  it  a  time 
of  unalloyed  pleasure.  Nor  must  you  hold  yourself  as 
unreservedly  committed  to  the  work  of  reforming  man 
kind  on  the  lines  laid  down  by  our  forefathers  here  in 
Ionia.  It  may  well  be  that  you  will  come  to  the  con 
clusion  that  our  laws  and  customs  are  too  much  at  var 
iance  with  the  prejudices  and  superstitions  of  the  modern 
Europeans  and  their  descendants  ever  to  be  adopted  by 
them.  We  could  not  blame  you  in  such  case,  for  it 
would  merely  show  that  you  had  reached  the  opinion 
which  our  own  public  men  have  always  entertained. 
And  if  you  should,  after  mature  deliberation,  come  to 
such  a  decision,  we  have  an  alternate  proposition  to  make 
to  you,  and  that  is,  that  you  should  cast  in  your  lot  with 
us,  and  we  shall  confer  upon  you  the  citizenship  of 
Ionia. 

"Therefore,  I  say  to  you  that  it  is  your  duty  to  throw 
aside  all  care  and  thought  of  the  future,  and  get  all  the 
pleasure  you  can  out  of  the  opportunity  which  Provi- 


AMONGST  NEW  FRIENDS.  HI 

clence  and  Jason  Dclphion  have  thrown  in  your  way,  es 
pecially  as  it  is  one  which  no  one  else  in  Europe  has  ever 
had  or  is  likely  to  have.  Leave  the  future  alone  for  the 
time  being;  the  question  of  deciding  about  your  duty  may 
well  be  postponed  for  a  few  months,  and  we  can  talk 
about  it  when  your  season  of  holiday  is  coming  to  an 
end." 

"I, shall  do  my  best  to  act  entirely  upon  your  advice, 
and  for  the  present  I  thank  you  with  all  my  heart  for  the 
kindness  and  the  honor  you  have  heaped  upon  me  to 
day." 

We  then  took  our  leave,  and  returned  by  the  way  we 
came,  except  that  we  sailed  through  the  southern  canal 
instead  of  the  western,  and  went  round  the  island  before 
returning;  and  from  every  point  of  view  it  appeared 
beautiful  beyond  all  my  past  experience  or  conception. 

The  evening  of  that  day  I  remember  as  the  first  of 
many  pleasant  evenings  spent  in  the  family  circle  of  Del- 
phion.  We  had  two  visitors  and  no  more,  and  they 
seemed  on  such  intimate  relations  with  the  family  of  my 
host  that  I  saw  they  were  almost  looked  upon  as  be 
longing  to  it.  They  interested  me  greatly  from  the  first 
moment.  One  was  a  young  man  of  herculean  build,  not 
quite  so  tall  as  Dion,  but  with  such  development  of  chest 
and  muscle  as  showed  him  to  be  a  man  of  extraordinary 
physical  strength.  His  head  was  a  mass  of  short  curls  of 
very  fair  hair,  and  his  blue  eyes  and  tawny  moustache 
marked  him  as  more  of  a  Teuton  than  a  Greek.  His 
sister,  a  young  girl  of  about  twenty,  was  also  a  pure 
blonde,  with  a  figure  in  which  perfect  grace  showed  in 
combination  with  a  suggestion  of  the  muscular  strength 
which  her  brother  possessed  to  such  a  remarkable  de 
gree. 


IONIA. 

When  they  entered  the  room  my  host  introduced  us, 
saying: 

"Here  are  two  of  our  friends,  who  might  almost  claim 
to  be  of  your  race,  for  their  ancestors  came  from  Holland. 
Your  name  is  already  known  to  them,  and  I  have  the 
pleasure  of  introducing  you  to  Daphne  Van  Tromp  and 
Leonidas  Van  Tromp."  The  lady  graciously  bowed,  but 
Leonidas  shook  hands  very  warmly,  and  yet  with  ex 
treme  gentleness,  for  I  felt  that  he  could  have  crushed 
mine  to  a  pulp  with  the  slightest  pressure  if  he  had 
wished  to. 

"Since  Jason  has  suggested  it,"  said  he,  "I  welcome 
you  as  a  fellow-countryman.  You  at  least  know  more 
of  the  country  of  my  ancestors  than  I  do,  and  I  might  say 
than  I  ever  wish  to  know,  for  you  have  been  there  and 
can  tell  us  that  it  is  a  land  of  fog  and  marsh,  which  would 
seem  a  very  undesirable  place  to  live  in  after  Ionia." 

"I  have  only  been  here  one  day,  and  yet  I  can  assure 
you  that  any  other  country  in  the  world  would  appear 
bleak  and  poor  beside  yours." 

"We  know  that  well,"  said  the  Gothic  Hercules,  "and 
you  will  find  very  few  of  us  anxious  to  emigrate.  And 
yet  those  Hollanders  were  good  men  and  good  patriots 
in  the  old  days — that  is,  about  the  time  that  my  forefa 
thers  emigrated.  They  made  the  first  successful  fight  for 
political  liberty  in  the  modern  world,  and  I  am  not 
ashamed  to  be  called  Hollander,  but,  indeed,  we  are  all 
partly  Hollander,  and  partly  Hellenist,  and  our  friend 
Jason  has  probably  as  much  Dutch  blood  in  him  as  I." 

"How  can  you  expect  Alexander  to  believe  that  when 
he  knows  that  your  name  is  Van  Tromp,  and  sees  your 
Teutonic  blood  showing  in  your  hair?" 

"Oh,  these  are  merely  outward  signs,"  said  Leonidas. 
"There  are  other  things  to  go  by  than  these.  For  in- 


AMONGST  NEW  FRIENDS.  113 

stance,  I  know  and  you  know,  too,  that  Jason  can  speak 
Dutch  just  like  a  native.  Took  to  it  just  like  a  duck  to 
the  water,  while  I  do  not  know  a  single  word  of  it  except 
my  own  name.  That  proves  Dutch  blood  surely,  if  any 
thing  could." 

"But  I  also  speak  Russian,"  said  Jason,  "and  to  be 
consistent  you  must  hold  that  I  am  a  Slav  as  well  as  a 
Hollander." 

Leonidas  made  some  reply,  but  I  failed  to  catch  its 
import,  for  I  was  absorbed  in  watching  the  pretty  group 
on  the  other  side  of  the  room.  Daphne  sat  between 
Leda  and  Eurydice,  her  bright  golden  hair  and  laughing 
blue  eyes  showing  to  the  greatest  advantage  beside  the 
darker  tresses  and  eyes  of  her  companions.  They  were 
in  animated  conversation,  speaking  their  own  language 
in  soft,  modulated  tones,  which  sounded  like  sweet  mu 
sic.  They  represented  three  different  types  of  beauty, 
but  each  of  them  seemed  perfection  embodied,  and,  if  I 
had  been  called  upon  like  Paris  to  determine  which  wa-s 
the  most  admirable,  I  should  have  been  quite  at  a  loss 
for  a  decision. 

Presently  they  ceased  talking,  and  listened  to  my  host, 
who  was  recounting  some  of  his  experiences  in  European 
capitals.  He  appeared  to  have  met  all  the  leading  men 
in  Europe,  and  to  have  much  more  than  a  newspaper 
knowledge  of  their  characters.  But  his  remarks  were 
not  confined  to  public  men;  he  gave  us  many  descrip 
tions  of  private  life  in  different  countries,  from  Sweden  to 
Spain,  and  from  Scotland  to  Turkey,  and  depicted  each 
with  such  absolute  fidelity  as  made  us  laugh  heartily  at 
the  idiosyncrasies  of  the  different  nations. 

During  a  momentary  pause  the  lady  Helen  asked  him 
to  tell  us  about  his  first  meeting  with  me,  and  he  gave  a 
very  vivid  account  of  the  meeting  in  Musgrave  Hall. 


114  IONIA. 

He  told  of  the  thread-bare  garments  and  anxious  looks 
of  the  people  in  the  audience  who  had  come  there  in  the 
vain  expectation  of  hearing  something  that  would  give 
them  some  hope  of  an  improvement  in  their  condition; 
and  then  he  described  the  speakers  and  quoted  verbatim 
from  their  grandiose  orations.  There  was  something 
laughable  in  hearing  their  high-sounding  phrases  re 
peated  in  cold  blood,  but  I  noticed  that  the  effect  pro 
duced  on  his  hearers  was  that  of  anger  and  disgust. 
Leonidas  especially  seemed  to  boil  over  with  indignation 
at  the  thought  of  such  paltry  demagogues  swaying  the 
minds  of  poor,  ignorant  men,  his  great  fist  was  clenched 
on  his  knee,  and  the  veins  in  his  temples  swelled  like 
whip-cords,  and  if  they  had  been  within  his  reach,  the 
people's  orators  would  have  been  in  a  pitiful  case.  But 
Jason  went  on  to  tell  of  our  meeting  and  the  work  I  had 
done  amongst  the  poor  of  London,  and  of  our  little 
country  village,  and  of  all  that  my  mother  was  doing  for 
the  poor  people  there,  and  interested  his  auditors  very 
much  in  the  sayings  and  doings  of  our  Chingford  folk. 
When  he  had  finished,  the  ladies  expressed  a  great  ad 
miration  for  the  character  of  my  mother,  whom  they  all 
said  they  would  like  to  meet,  and  asked  me  if  I  could  not 
bring  her  to  Ionia.  I  assured  them  that  I  should  like  to 
do  so  above  all  things,  but  that  I  felt  certain  she  could 
never  be  induced  to  make  so  long  a  journey,  and,  as  she 
would  consider  it,  one  attended  with  so  much  peril,  even 
if  she  could  make  up  her  mind  to  be  away  from  her 
faithful  villagers  for  a  sufficient  length  of  time,  which  I 
thought  would  be  out  of  the  question.  "But,  on  the 
other  hand,"  I  continued,  "if  it  would  be  possible  for  any 
of  you  ladies  to  visit  her  she  would  be  delighted  to  re 
ciprocate  the  hospitality  which  I  am  now  enjoying." 
The  lady  Helen  replied: 


AMONGST  NEW  FRIENDS.  115 

"That  would  be  a  great  pleasure  to  any  one  of  us,  but 
unfortunately  it  is  not  within  our  power.  It  is  one  of  the 
unwritten  laws  of  the  land,  understood  and  acknowl 
edged  to  be  binding  on  all,  that  none  shall  leave  Ionia 
without  the  consent  of  the  government,  and  except  for 
occasional  hunting  parties,  none  have  ever  crossed  the 
mountains  but  those  who  go  upon  government  business. 
For  my  part  I  have  often  thought  that  I  should  like  to  see 
Athens  and  Rome,  Paris  and  London,  but  at  the  same 
time  I  have  felt  that  the  condition  of  the  common  people 
in  European  countries  must  be  very  distressing  to  wit 
ness,  and  I  am  satisfied  that  a  visit  to  any  of  them  would 
arouse  so  many  painful  emotions  that  there  would  be  lit 
tle  pleasure  in  satisfying  one's  curiosity  in  regard  to 
them." 

"Pardon  me,"  said  I,  "perhaps  I  do  not  understand 
you,  but  it  seems  to  me  that  you  would  see  but  little  to 
shock  you  unless  you  sought  out  the  poor  and  the  dis 
tressed  with  a  view  of  affording  them  charitable  relief." 

"It  may  be  difficult  to  make  you  understand  our  way 
of  looking  at  these  things,"  said  my  hostess,  "but  when 
you  have  been  here  some  little  time  and  have  seen  for 
yourself  that  the  terms  affluence  and  poverty  have  no 
meaning  for  us,  you  will  see  how  the  division  of  society 
into  rich  and  poor  appears  to  us  a  dreadful  and  unnatural 
state  of  things.  That  any  considerable  body  of  the  peo 
ple  should  have  to  toil  throughout  their  whole  lives  for 
little  more  than  suffices  to  keep  body  and  soul  together, 
indicates  a  condition  so  little  better  than  slavery  that  it 
is  hard  for  us  to  understand  the  difference.  And  that 
is  just  the  state  of  things  we  should  be  compelled  to  wit 
ness  in  any  part  of  Europe  we  might  visit.  Is  it  not  so?" 

"I  am  afraid  it  is,"  said  I. 

"Is  it  true,"  said  Leonidas,  "that  many  men  in  England 


116  IONIA. 

work  hard  all  their  days  and  have  to  go  to  the  work 
house  when  they  become  old  and  infirm,  and  are  at  last 
buried  in  pauper's  graves?" 

"Such  cases  are  not  uncommon,  but  I  believe  they  are 
now  the  exception,  whereas  I  fear  that  formerly  they 
were  the  rule  among  the  rural  laborers." 

"That  is  a  dreadfully  unjust  state  of  things,"  said 
Leonidas.  "The  man  who  works  hard  all  his  life  cer 
tainly  earns  vastly  more  than  a  mere  pittance;  if  he  gets 
no  more  he  has  been  deprived  of  the  greater  portion  of 
his  wages,  and  to  treat  him  as  a  pauper  at  the  end  is  add 
ing  wanton  insult  to  injury.  But  I  cannot  understand 
why  men  should  submit  to  it  if  they  know  anything 
about  the  earth  they  live  in.  Why  do  they  not  emigrate 
to  new  countries,  where  their  labor  will  be  of  more  value? 
I  understand  that  these  poor  men  marry  and  have  fami 
lies.  Why  do  they  not  deny  themselves  of  these  luxu 
ries  for  a  time  and  work  hard  and  live  hard  until  they  are 
able  to  betake  themselves  to  Canada  or  New  Zealand?" 

"Because,  in  the  first  place,  they  know  very  little  about 
the  world  at  large,  and  in  the  second,  their  way  of  life 
does  not  seem  to  them  so  hard  as  it  does  to  you.  Their 
fathers  and  grandfathers  lived  just  as  they  do,  and  their 
priests  tell  them  that  it  is  a  virtue  to  be  content  with  the 
lot  to  which  God  has  called  them." 

"Then,  apparently,  the  church  is  in  league  with  the 
state  for  the  purpose  of  keeping  the  poor  people  where 
they  are,  and  preventing  them  from  improving  their  con 
dition.  But  I  beg  your  pardon,  Alexander;  here  am  I 
vilifying  your  countrymen  to  your  face  before  you  have 
been  twenty-four  hours  in  Ionia.  I  am  afraid  that  in 
respect  of  good  manners  you  must  already  be  of  the  opin 
ion  that  there  is  at  least  one  Ionian  who  would  do  well  to 
go  to  England  and  take  lessons," 


AMONGST   NEW  FRIENDS.  117 


"On  the  contrary,"  said  I,  "it  was  I  who  introduced  the 
subject,  and  I  am  really  anxious  that  you  should  tell  me 
frankly  what  in  your  opinion  are  the  worst  features  of 
our  European  civilization,  for  in  that  way  my  eyes  may 
be  opened  to  observe  many  points  of  difference  that 
otherwise  might  escape  me.  You  will,  therefore,  be  do 
ing  me  the  greatest  possible  kindness  if  you  will  continue 
to  criticize  our  English  customs  and  institutions." 

"Excuse  me,"  said  the  blonde  Hercules,  "I  am  too  im 
pulsive,  too  apt  to  let  my  feelings  run  away  with  me.  I 
would  rather  listen  while  you  discuss  this  matter  with 
Dion  or  the  young  ladies." 

As  no  one  spoke,  I  proceeded  to  elicit  opinions  by 
questioning  each,  and  first,  turning  to  Dion,  I  asked  him 
to  tell  me  wherein  he  considered  us  most  backward  as  a 
people. 

"I  have  not  given  the  matter  very  careful  attention," 
said  he,  "but  in  reading  books  about  the  English,  espe 
cially  books  written  by  themselves,  one  thing  has  always 
struck  me  painfully,  and  that  is,  the  way  in  which  those 
who  are  in  high  station  are  worshiped  by  all  the  others." 

"Worshiped!     Is  that  word  not  rather  strong?" 

"Not  to  my  mind.  They  are  addressed  as  'My  lord,' 
'Your  grace,'  'Your  majesty,'  and  so  on,  and  you  will 
hardly  find  terms  of  stronger  adulation  in  your  prayer- 
book.  Then  the  slightest  movements  and  actions  of 
these  great  ones  are  chronicled  in  your  journals  as  if  they 
were  events  upon  which  the  fate  of  the  world  depended. 
Their  births,  marriages  and  deaths  are  recorded  with 
fulsome  details,  and  even  their  slightest  movements,  as, 
for  instance,  how  they  pass  their  evenings,  where  they 
ate  their  dinners,  how  they  amused  themselves  after 
wards,  what  dresses  the  ladies  wore,  and  how  they 
decked  themselves  out  with  diamonds  and  pearls,  and 


118  IONIA. 

so  on,  are  all  considered  of  sufficient  importance  to  ap 
pear  in  public  print.  I  do  not  speak  of  England  alone, 
but  of  all  the  other  European  nations  as  well,  and  repub 
lican  America  is  not  a  whit  better.  They  have  no  lords 
or  titled  ladies  there,  it  is  true,  but  they  worship  their 
millionaires  in  just  the  same  way,  and  every  newspaper 
in  its  'society'  column  proves  the  profound  scepticism  of 
the  people  in  regard  to  the  first  article  of  their  political 
creed — that  all  men  are  born  equal.  Your  English 
author,  Thackeray,  writes  very  amusingly  about  this  atti 
tude  of  mind  in  his  'Book  of  Snobs,'  but  at  the  same  time 
proclaims  it  as  a  universal  failing,  from  which  he  allows 
that  he  is  by  no  means  exempt  himself.  I  suppose  it  is 
an  inevitable  result  of  the  inequitable  division  of  wealth, 
which  is  so  universal  in  the  outside  world,  but  it  is  none 
the  less  pitiful,  both  in  those  who  give  and  those  who  re 
ceive  such  degrading  homage." 

"I  am  sure  you  are  right,  Dion,  and  yet  I  must  confess 
it  has  never  appeared  to  me  in  so  very  objectionable  a 
light,  for  we  are  so  used  to  the  idea  that  the  mass  of  the 
people  must  be  not  only  poor,  but  badly  educated  and 
deficient  in  intelligence  as  well,  that  it  seems  very  natural 
that  they  should  look  up  to  the  lords  of  the  soil  as  beings 
of  a  superior  order  to  their  own.  I  fear  we  have  to  ac 
complish  a  great  reformation  before  there  can  be  any 
great  change  in  this  particular,  but  please  tell  me  of  some 
other  flaws  in  our  social  system ;  it  is  most  interesting  to 
know  how  these  things  appear  to  you,  who  are  entirely 
free  from  our  native  prejudices." 

"Ask  the  ladies,"  said  Dion;  "they  have  not  spoken 
yet." 

"Indeed,"  said  his  mother,  "it  was  I  who  began  this 
criticising  which  Alexander  takes  so  graciously,  but  per- 


AMONGST  NEW  FRIENDS.  119 

haps  he  would  like  to  hear  what  the  young  ladies  think  of 
Europe." 

"Indeed  I  should,"  said  I;  "if  they  will  be  frank  and 
tell  me  the  very  worst.  Leda,  will  you  help  me  by  say 
ing  wherein  we  show  our  barbarism  most?" 

"I  should  not  think  of  using  the  word  barbarous  to 
such  highly  civilized  people  as  the  English,  French  or 
Germans,  who  have  produced  such  splendid  literature, 
and  have  advanced  so  far  in  science  and  art,  and  yet  one 
cannot  glance  at  any  of  your  newspapers  without  seeing 
much  that  is  distressing  to  think  of,  and  astonishing 
when  we  consider  that  it  exists,  side  by  side,  with  much 
culture,  wealth  and  refinement.  For  that  reason  I  very 
seldom  look  at  a  European  paper,  although  we  have  a 
number  of  the  more  prominent  ones  on  file  in  the  ladies' 
public  library,  but  the  other  day  I  chanced  to  look  over 
the  Times'  and  noticed  a  statement  there  in  regard  to  the 
school  children  of  Vienna  to  the  effect  that  a  very  large 
proportion  of  them  were  in  a  state  bordering  on  starva 
tion;  that  they  were  clothed  in  rags,  and  that  they 
scarcely  knew  what  it  was  to  be  warm,  except  when  they 
came  to  school.  Now  it  may  be  that  this  is  an  excep 
tional  condition  of  things,  and  yet  we  are  forced  to  be 
lieve  that  in  all  the  cities  of  Europe  a  large  proportion  of 
the  children  are  brought  into  the  world  without  any  pro 
vision  for  the  tender  nurture  and  education  which, 
amongst  us,  is  the  birth-right  of  every  one.  The  thought 
of  the  helpless  innocents  enduring  hunger,  cold,  and 
every  other  privation,  is  a  very  distressing  one,  and  I  am 
unable  to  understand  how  the  people  who  are  well  to  do 
can  find  any  pleasure  in  comfortable  surroundings  when 
they  know  that  such  cruel  suffering  exists  in  their  im 
mediate  neighborhood." 

"I  think,  Leda,"  said  I,  "you  have  pointed  out  the 


180  IONIA. 

greatest  blot  in  our  modern  civilization.  We  have  made 
much  progress  in  many  ways,  and  we  have  the  poor  al 
ways  with  us  in  undiminished  numbers,  and  many  chil 
dren  are  crying  for  bread  in  cities  of  almost  countless 
wealth.  Much  is  done  by  private  charity  and  govern 
ment  measures  to  relieve  distress,  and  yet  it  never  seems 
to  be  sensibly  diminished.  The  truth  is  we  do  not  know 
how  to  cure  this  great  evil,  and  I  am  here  in  the  hope  of 
finding  out  how  you  have  done  away  with  poverty  in 
order  that  we  may,  if  possible,  profit  by  your  example. 

"And  now,  Daphne,  will  you  please  give  me  the  benefit 
of  your  thoughts?" 

"After  Eurydice,"  said  she,  "I  will  tell  you;  if  I  can 
think  of  anything  sufficiently  bad." 

"Well,  then,  Eurydice,  will  you  please  tell  me  wherein 
you  think  us  most  imperfect?" 

"There  is  one  thing  that  has  jarred  upon  my  feelings 
in  reading  books  by  European  authors,  and  that  is,  that 
some  kinds  of  labor^are  looked  upon  amongst  you  as 
degrading.  A  man  who  works  with  his  hands  is  sup 
posed  to  be  a  common,  uneducated,  ignorant  person,  and 
no  gentleman  is  supposed  to  earn  his  living  in  any  but 
the  learned  professions.  Now  with  us  it  is  different;  all 
work  is  equally  honorable,  and,  although  brain  work  is 
undoubtedly  of  higher  quality  than  hand  work,  you  will 
find  that  our  mechanics  are  not  looked  down  upon  by 
artists  or  literary  men,  for  the  simple  reason  that  they 
are  just  as  likely  as  not  their  equals  in  general  intelli 
gence.  If  you  attend  any  of  the  receptions  given  by  the 
mayor  or  the  president  of  the  university  you  will  be  sure 
to  find  groups  of  ladies  and  gentlemen  discussing  some 
difficult  problem  of  astronomy  or  biology;  and  of  the 
principal  speakers  you  will  find  that  one  is  a  professor  of 
natural  history,  another  a  carpenter,  and  a  third  may  be 


AMONGST   NEW  FRIENDS.  121 

the  man  who  steered  your  boat  to-day  to  the  Acropolis. 1 
This  question  touches  me  personally,  and  that  is  why  it 
has  occupied  my  attention  more  than  any  other  in  read 
ing  European  books.  If  this  were  a  European  house 
hold  I  should  be  entirely  out  of  place  in  the  family  sit 
ting  room,  my  place  would  be  the  kitchen,  and  Jason  and 
Helen,  instead  of  being  like  a  second  father  and  mother 
to  me,  would  be  my  master  and  mistress,  and  I  should  be 
simply  their  servant,  which  means  little  different  from  a 
slave." 

"What  you  have  said,  Eurydice,  proves  to  me  more 
than  anything  else  how  vast  is  the  difference  between  our 
civilization  and  yours.  For  the  fact  that  so  few  profes 
sions  are  open  to  gentlemen  amongst  us  simply  shows 
what  a  miserable  minority  our  gentlemen,  taking  the 
word  in  the  sense  of  men  of  culture,  are,  compared  with 
the  bulk  of  the  community.  If  your  mechanics  are  able 
to  hold  learned  discussions  with  your  professors,  then  I 
am  sure  that  our  savants  could  sit  with  advantage  at  the 
feet  of  the  undergraduates,  and  it  is  almost  discouraging 
to  think  that  we  are  so  very  far  behind  in  intellectual 
progress.  Nevertheless,  I  thank  you  for  pointing  out 
this  essential  point  of  difference,  which  shall  have  my 
most  careful  attention,  and  if  you  are  almost  infinitely  in 
advance  of  us  it  will  give  us  the  advantage  of  a  higher 
standard  to  aim  at,  and  our  progress  ottght  to  be  corre 
spondingly  great. 

"And  now,  Daphne,  you  see  I  am  far  from  sinking 
under  this  load  of  condemnation,  and  we  shall  be  glad 
to  hear  what  you  have  to  add  to  it.  Do  not  spare  us,  I 
beg  of  you." 

"It  is  an  ungracious  task  you  have  imposed  upon  us," 
said  the  lovely  blonde,  "but  as  you  ask  us  to  be  perfectly 
frank  and  candid,  I  may  say  that  what  appears  to  me  to 


122  IONIA. 

be  the  most  appalling  of  all  the  disadvantages  you  labor 
under  is  the  continual  presence  amongst  you  of  disease 
in  its  most  dreadful  forms.  I  understand  that  in  your 
large  cities  such  fearful  diseases  as  typhoid  fever,  scarlet 
fever,  diphtheria  and  even  small-pox  are  always  present 
in  greater  or  less  virulence,  and  that  they  spare  neither 
old  nor  young,  rich  nor  poor,  and  the  consequence  is 
that  you  do  not,  on  the  average,  live  half  your  days. 
Consumption  appears  to  find  its  victims  everywhere,  and 
cuts  off  young  men  and  women  by  the  thousand  in  the 
very  bloom  of  their  youth.  Nothing  can  surely  be  sad 
der  than  to  see  youth  or  maiden  droop  and  die  just  when 
all  the  brightest  hopes  of  life  are  blossoming,  unless  it  be 
to  see  little  children  carried  off  by  agonizing  sickness  just 
when  they  have  wound  themselves  most  tightly  round 
the  affections  of  their  parents.  I  understand  that  a  large 
proportion  of  the  children  born  in  Europe  die  before  they 
are  two  years  old,  and  it  makes  me  wonder  whether  it  is 
the  ignorance  of  the  parents  or  the  incompetence  of  the 
doctors  or  the  callousness  of  the  governing  powers  that 
is  most  to  blame." 

Daphne's  expression  as  she  spoke  was  one  of  infinite 
tenderness  and  compassion,  and  I  remained  silent  for  a 
minute  before  undertaking  to  reply.  At  last  I  said: 

"All  you  have  said  is  true,  but  I  never  realized  the  un 
speakable  sadness  of  it  before.  Whatever  we  are  accus 
tomed  to  seems  natural,  and  we  become  indifferent  to  it. 
In  a  time  of  war  men  become  used  to  seeing  their  com 
rades  fall  around  them,  and  their  appetite  for  the  next 
meal  is  unimpaired.  In  a  plague-stricken  city  people  see 
the  bodies  of  their  neighbors  carried  off  in  the  dead  cart 
by  day  or  by  night,  and  become  indifferent  to  the  horrors 
around  them  until  their  own  turn  comes.  So  we  in 
Europe  know  that  children  are  being  constantly  stricken 


AMONGST  NEW  FRIENDS.  123 

down  under  the  eyes  of  their  parents,  mothers  taken 
away  from  their  babes,  husbands  from  their  wives,  and 
youths  and  maidens  from  their  families,  and  so  long  as 
the  fell  destroyer  keeps  aloof  from  our  own  hearth  and 
home  we  think  nothing  of  it,  for  it  has  always  been  so. 
Jason  has  told  me  that  in  this  land  of  yours  these  things 
do  not  happen,  or  only  in  exceptional  cases;  if  it  is  the 
rule  that  men  and  women  die  only  in  the  fullness  of  their 
years,  when  they  have  tasted  all  the  sweets  of  life,  and  fall 
asleep  only  when  the  fountain  of  their  existence  is  ex 
hausted,  then  yours  is,  indeed,  a  blessed  land,  and  I  shall 
be  able  to  make  all  men's  ears  tingle  with  the  tale." 

"I  have  never  known  a  young  person  die,"  said 
Daphne.  "Accidents  do  sometimes  happen,  but  they  are 
very  rare.  No  one  has  died  under  ninety  years  old  in 
our  family  for  generations,  and  almost  everyone  you 
meet  will  tell  you  the  same  about  their  own.  That  seems 
to  us  the  natural  state  of  things,  and  it  is  difficult  for  us 
to  understand  why  it  should  be  so  very  different  else 
where." 

"Nor  can  I  explain  it  to  you.  Doubtless  our  ignor 
ance  is  at  the  bottom  of  it  all.  You  spoke  of  ignorance 
on  the  part  of  the  parents,  apathy  on  the  part  of  the  rul 
ing  powers,  and  incompetence  on  the  part  of  the  medical 
profession.  The  first  two  causes  may  certainly  be  cred 
ited  with  a  large  part  of  the  responsibility,  but  as  for  the 
last,  I  had  supposed  that  our  physicians  and  surgeons 
were  very  learned  and  skillful.  I  should  like  to  hear 
what  our  host  has  to  say  upon  that  point." 

"From  personal  experience,"  Jason  said,  "I  am  not  in 
a  position  to  speak,  for  I  have  never  had  occasion  to 
consult  a  European  medical  man  at  any  time.  I  have 
met  some  of  them  personally  and  found  them  very  in 
telligent,  well-bred  gentlemen,  but  I  have  seldom 


124  IONIA. 

known  them  to  save  a  life  in  danger,  and  I  have  known 
them  to  fail  in  many  cases  where  I  thought  they  ought  to 
have  succeeded.  They  are  banded  together  like  the 
members  of  a  trades'  union,  and  whether  the  patient  lives 
or  dies  they  are  very  careful  to  collect  their  fees  where- 
ever  it  is  possible  to  do  so.  I  may  wrong  many  of  them 
in  saying  this,  and  one  would  gather  a  very  different  im 
pression  from  reading  some  of  your  foremost  authors. 

"They  tell  us  of  large-hearted  men  of  wonderful  ability 
and  learning,  working  day  and  night  for  the  good  of  the 
community,  and  that  with  an  absolute  indifference  to 
monetary  reward.  Unfortunately  I  have  never  person 
ally  known  of  any  such  cases,  but  on  the  contrary,  I 
have  sometimes  been  disgusted  with  the  grasping  spirit 
of  practitioners  who  limited  their  fee  only  by  the  extent 
of  their  client's  supposed  fortune.  For  instance,  I  have 
a  friend  in  Paris,  the  head  of  a  large  jewelry  firm  named 
Lapointe  and  Company,  whose  little  daughter  was  taken 
sick  about  two  years  ago.  The  operation  of  tracheot 
omy  was  performed,  and  the  child  speedily  got  well,  and 
M.  Lapointe,  who  loved  her  passionately,  would  gladly 
and  gratefully  have  paid  a  good  round  fee  to  the  surgeon 
who  had  undertaken  the  case.  But  when  he  received  a 
bill  for  fifteen  thousand  francs,  his  feelings  were  changed, 
and  he  flatly  refused  to  pay  it.  He  was  no  millionaire, 
business  had  been  dull  for  a  year  or  two,  and  fifteen 
thousand  francs  was  more  than  he  could  well  spare.  In 
a  weak  moment  he  allowed  the  question  to  be  arbitrated 
by  a  jury  of  physicians,  and  they  unanimously  decided 
that  the  fee  was  just  and  proper,  and  ought  to  be  paid; 
and  it  was.  When  the  physicians  carry  on  their  work  in 
the  full  glare  of  publicity,  as  when  the  head  of  a  nation  is 
stricken,  they  show  themselves  as  helpless  as  so  many 
children,  but  this  does  not  prevent  their  trying  to  enrich 


AMONGST  NEW  FRIENDS.  125 

themselves  by  charging  enormous  sums  for  helping  the 
patient  to  die.  Their  fees  would  be  many  times  too 
large  if  they  had  saved  their  patient,  but  it  is  the  oppor 
tunity  of  a  life-time,  and  they  seize  it  like  bandits  when 
they  have  a  prince  to  ransom. 

"Were  the  salvation  of  Great  Britain  intrusted  to  my 
hands  with  the  powers  of  absolute  dictatorship,  the  first 
thing  I  should  do  would  be  to  summon  all  the  doctors 
and  all  the  lawyers,  and  at  least  nineteen-twentieths  of 
the  clergy  to  London,  and  ship  them  off  to  the  antipodes. 
I  should  give  them  land  and  seed  and  agricultural  imple 
ments,  and  a  supply  of  food  for  a  few  months,  and  let 
them  shift  for  themselves.  Then  I  should  set  to  work 
with  some  hope  of  success  with  the  people  accustomed 
to  work  for  an  honest  living. 

"Without  the  doctors'  pills  and  potions  they  would  be 
able  to  live  in  health  and  die  in  peace ;  without  lawyers  to 
foment  their  differences  they  would  avoid  civil  disputes 
or  settle  them  quickly  by  arbitration ;  without  the  clergy 
to  stir  up  theological  strife  they  would  forget  their  reli 
gious  differences  and  work  together  in  harmony  for  the 
general  improvement. 

"The  vast  sums  which  these  professional  gentlemen 
have  drawn  from  the  resources  of  the  people  would  sup 
port  all  the  poor  people  who  were  too  old  to  work,  as 
well  as  all  the  orphans  and  incapables,  and  educate  the 
children  in  a  thorough  and  practical  way,  and  leave  a 
large  fund  besides  for  much  needed  reforms ;  and  in  two 
generations  at  most  the  millennium  would  dawn  upon 
England." 

"What  an  opportunity  the  English  people  lost  when 
they  let  you  come  away,"  said  Leonidas. 

"Why  did  you  not  ask  Queen  Victoria  to  resign?" 
said  his  sister. 


12G  IONIA. 

"And  then  I  might  have  been  an  empress,"  said  the 
lady  Helen. 

"And  I  a  princess  imperial,"  said  Leda. 

"I  wonder  how  it  would  feel  to  be  Prince  of  Wales?" 
said  Dion. 

"And  you  could  not  have  done  less  than  make  me  a 
duke,"  said  Leonidas. 

And  so  they  went  on  while  Jason  said  never  a  word, 
evidently  well  pleased  that  they  should  have  a  little  fun 
at  his  expense,  but  when  their  sarcasm  exhausted  itself, 
he  turned  to  me  and  said,  gravely: 

"I  was  wrong,  Alexander,  entirely  wrong.  As  dic 
tator  I  could  manage  the  people  of  England  well  enough, 
but  my  unruly  family  would  bring  my  gray  hairs  with 
sorrow  to  the  grave  in  less  than  six  months." 

At  this  Leonidas  sprang  to  his  feet,  and  assuming  a 
tragic  pose,  said,  in  a  voice  that  sounded  like  distant 
thunder: 

"And  so  perish  all  tyrants!" 

"Amen,  amen!"  cried  all  the  rest. 

"And  thus  you  see,"  continued  Jason,  "how  demoraliz 
ing  is  the  effect  of  exalted  station  on  people  who  are  not 
born  to  it,  for  these  young  persons,  ordinarily  most  duti 
ful  and  affectionate,  are  so  carried  away  by  the  thought  of 
it  that  they  are  gloating  in  imagination  over  my  untimely 
death.  But  let  us  talk  of  something  nearer  to  us  at  pres 
ent  than  the  British  Empire.  I  mean  the  national  games. 
I  have  yet  to  learn  who  are  to  be  the  contestants  in  the 
principal  races,  and  Alexander  will  doubtless  wish  to 
know  a  little  more  about  the  great  celebration  in  which 
he  is  to  assist  as  our  most  honored  guest." 

But  our  hostess  suggested  that  it  was  time  for  a  little 
supper,  and  so  it  was  at  the  table  that  the  coming  festival 
was  discussed,  and  that  with  such  lively  interest  that  I 


A  MODEL  CITY.  127 

began  to  catch  a  little  of  the  true  Hellenic  enthusiasm 
for  physical  beauty  and  manly  sports.  The  ladies 
seemed  to  look  forward  to  the  great  event  as  eagerly  as 
the  gentlemen,  and  I  thought  how  fortunate  were  the 
young  men  who  carried  away  the  prizes  under  the  ad 
miration  of  such  beautiful  eyes. 


CHAPTER  VI. 
A  MODEL  CITY. 

Remorselessly  at  six  o'clock  next  morning  Dion  called 
me  and  intimated  that  it  was  time  to  dress  for  the  early 
swim,  and  although  I  responded  immediately  to  the  sum 
mons  I  could  not  refrain  from  the  liveliest  regrets  at  my 
consenting  to  be  roused  at  such  an  untimely  hour.  But 
when  we  were  once  outside,  the  glorious  beauty  of  the 
scene  and  the  freshness  of  the  morning  air  made  me  feel 
that  the  sacrifice  of  a  little  sleep  was  already  repaid. 
The  "Quarry"  was  just  a  little  way  off  on  the  other  side 
of  the  hill,  which  rose  behind  the  row  of  houses  where 
my  friends  live,  and  we  walked  along  at  a  rapid  pace, 
Leda  chatting  gaily  with  her  brother  and  myself,  and 
looking,  if  possible,  more  divinely  beautiful  than  ever  in 
her  exquisitely  simple  morning  dress.  A  number  of 
swiftly  moving  barges  were  crossing  the  lake  towards 
the  canal  or  stream  which  communicates  with  the  quarry, 
and  the  air  was  filled  with  the  sound  of  the  talk  and 
laughter  of  the  passengers  with  which  they  were 
crowded.  Young  people  they  were  mostly,  though  not 
without  a  sprinkling  of  gray  beards,  and  the  handsomest, 
happiest  looking  crowds  of  people  I  had  ever  seen.  A 
very  few  minutes'  walk  brought  us  to  our  destination,  a 


128  IONIA. 

sheet  of  water  about  a  quarter  of  a  mile  in  extent,  beau 
tifully  clear,  so  that  one  could  distinctly  see  the  bottom 
of  white  marble  rock,  except  where  the  precipitous  sides 
were  reflected  as  in  a  mirror.  The  walls  were  very  high, 
and  just  as  the  quarrymen  had  left  them,  except  that  to 
the  height  of  forty  feet  they  had  been  cut  into  galleries 
supported  by  Doric  columns,  behind  which  were  the 
dressing  rooms,  hewn  out  of  solid  marble.  In  the  center 
rose  an  island  of  the  native  rock,  on  which  was  a  minia 
ture  temple,  adorned  with  finely  executed  statuary.  The 
road  we  followed  was  considerably  above  the  water  level, 
and  landed  us  at  the  second  gallery,  from  which  at  this 
point,  steps  led  straight  down  into  the  water.  Already 
a  great  many  people  were  disporting  themselves  in  the 
crystal  element,  and  although  their  dresses  were  more 
modest  than  those  to  be  seen  at  our  sea-side  resorts,  es 
pecially  those  of  the  males,  yet  it  seemed  to  me  that  I  had 
never  seen  such  grace  of  form  and  motion  as  was  ex 
hibited  by  these  splendid  swimmers.  We  separated  here 
from  our  fair  companions,  the  ladies'  dressing  rooms  be 
ing  on  one  side,  and  those  of  the  gentlemen  on  the  other. 
As  I  followed  Dion  along  the  gallery,  I  was  quite  ab 
sorbed  in  wratching  the  motion  of  the  bathers  below,  who 
seemed  to  be  in  their  natural  element:  practicing  every 
variety  of  stroke,  and  diving  below  the  surface  like  ducks. 
My  attention  was  suddenly  arrested  by  a  couple  of 
strange  looking  monsters  coming  straight  down  the  cen 
ter  of  the  pond  at  an  enormous  rate  of  speed. 

"What  are  those  strange  creatures,  Dion?"  I  ex 
claimed.  'They  look  like  seals,  but  what  are  they  doing 
here?" 

'They  are  men,"  said  he,  "in  racing  suits.  They  are 
rather  out  of  place  here,  and  are  only  allowed  early  in 
the  morning.  After  half  past  six  they  must  retire  in  fa- 


A  MODEL  CITY.  129 

vor  of  those  in  ordinary  bathing  dress,  and  as  it  is  close 
upon  that  time  they  are  taking  their  last  spin.  Let  us 
stand  here  a  moment,  and  if  they  come  as  far  before  turn 
ing  you  will  be  able  to  see  them  distinctly.  You  see  they 
are  on  their  backs,  and  have  a  rubber  hood  which  fits 
tightly  on  the  head  and  shoulders  to  enable  them  to  cut 
the  water  like  aquatic  animals.  Now  before  they  turn 
look  at  their  hands  and  feet.  You  see  they  have  elastic 
edges  which  open  out  with  the  stroke  and  hold  the  water 
like  a  hollow  vessel  but  making  no  resistance  to  the  re 
turn.  On  their  lower  limbs  are  flounces  an  inch  deep, 
three  of  them  between  the  ankle  and  the  knee,  which 
open  just  far  enough  to  take  a  hold  of  the  water  as  they 
shoot  their  feet  out,  and  close  against  the  leg  as  they 
draw  them  back.  These  devices  render  the  limbs  of  a 
man  equal  in  purchase  to  the  fins  of  a  fish,  and  enable 
him  to  rival  the  fish  in  speed.  But  as  I  was  saying,  this 
is  not  the  place  for  racing;  the  open  lake  is  the  place  for 
that." 

Before  he  had  done  speaking  the  two  strange  looking 
figures  had  almost  disappeared.  They  had  turned  just 
about  opposite  us,  and  gone  back  the  way  they  came, 
cleaving  the  water  with  astonishing  speed,  not  less,  I 
should  say,  than  ten  miles  an  hour. 

Walking  a  little  farther,  Dion  showed  me  a  dressing 
room  which  I  could  use,  and  requested  an  attendant  to 
furnish  me  with  a  suitable  bathing  suit,  and  in  a  few  min 
utes  we  were  ready  for  the  plunge.  Descending  by  the 
nearest  stairway,  we  dived  at  once  into  deep  water  and 
found  it  deliciously  cool  and  exhilarating.  By  this  time 
the  water  was  so  full  of  swimmers  that  I  wondered 
whether  we  should  be  able  to  find  Leda  amongst  them 
all,  but  she  had  been  before  us,  and  had  already  crossed 
from  the  other  side,  and  almost  as  soon  as  we  came  to  the 


130  IONIA. 

surface  she  had  joined  us,  and  we  shaped  our  course  for 
the  central  island.  I  swam  my  hardest  so  as  not  to  keep 
them  back,  but  they  made  no  effort  to  distance  me,  al 
though  I  knew  by  the  easy  way  in  which  they  made  their 
strokes,  chatting  with  each  other  as  they  went,  that  they 
could  easily  have  left  me  far  behind  if  they  wished. 
Presently  we  arrived  at  the  island  temple,  and  landing 
on  some  steps  in  front,  we  passed  into  the  interior,  which 
was  adorned  with  handsome  statuary,  representing  gods 
and  heroes  of  ancient  Greece.  A  stairway  on  one  side 
led  to  the  top  of  the  walls,  and  thither  we  followed  some 
of  the  other  bathers  who  had  preceded  us.  The  temple 
was  built  without  a  roof,  and  on  three  sides  it  rose  per 
pendicular  from  the  water  to  a  height  of  some  thirty  feet. 
From  this  height  most  of  the  bathers  dived  as  soon  as 
they  reached  it,  and  Dion  asked  me  if  I  could  do  likewise. 
I  said  I  could  not,  but  would  be  glad  to  see  him  and  Leda 
do  it.  And  this  they  did  without  hesitation,  flying 
through  the  air  as  gracefully  as  a  pair  of  eagles  swoop 
ing  down  from  the  sky;  then  when  they  had  turned 
themselves  in  the  water  they  joined  hands,  and  with 
light,  graceful  strokes  slowly  swam  to  the  surface,  which 
they  reached  about  eighty  feet  away.  It  was  a  lovely 
sight  to  witness,  but  I  had  no  mind  to  emulate  their  ex 
ample,  and  by  the  more  inglorious  way  of  the  staircase 
I  reached  the  steps  again  where  I  found  them  awaiting 
me. 

Leda  now  proposed  a  visit  to  the  cave  of  Poseidon, 
which  she  said  was  only  a  hundred  yards  off  and  well 
worth  a  visit.  So  we  swam  to  the  opposite  side,  and 
through  a  low,  but  wide  archway,  into  what  seemed  to 
me  a  place  of  utter  darkness,  and  if  Dion  had  not  given 
me  his  hand  I  should  have  been  utterly  bewildered.  In 
a  few  moments,  however,  when  the  sunlight  left  my 


A  MODEL  CITY.  131 

eyes,  I  began  to  see  the  outlines  of  the  place.  It  was 
a  long,  vaulted  cavern,  with  a  watery  floor,  and  on  each 
side  were  steps,  extending  the  whole  length  of  the  cave 
and  reaching  to  the  bottom  of  the  arch  of  the  roof.  On 
these  a  number  of  the  bathers  were  seated,  and  we  took 
our  place  amongst  them  on  one  of  the  upper  steps  near 
the  farther  end.  I  now  saw  that  what  light  there  was  pro 
ceeded  from  the  water  itself.  Below  the  surface  the  walls 
were  perpendicular,  and  a  row  of  electric  lamps  ran 
round  the  bottom,  so  that  while  the  upper  portion  of  the 
water  was  comparatively  dark,  the  lower  part  was  per 
fectly  illuminated.  The  great  feature  of  the  cave,  how 
ever,  was  immediately  beneath  us,  and  consisted  of  a 
representation  of  the  golden  temple  of  Poseidon. 
Twelve  statues,  representing  twelve  of  the  ancient  Gre 
cian  deities,  stood  in  a  circle  on  the  floor,  supporting 
a  richly  carved  entablature,  and  in  the  space  enclosed 
sat  the  sea-god  on  a  car  drawn  by  dolphins,  his  trident 
upright  in  his  right  hand.  All  this  was  exquisitely 
carved  in  white  marble  and  brightly  illuminated  with  a 
flood  of  rich  yellow  light  from  cunningly  concealed 
lamps,  so  that  the  effect  was  really  that  of  a  temple  of 
gold.  In  and  out  through  the  twelve  openings  swam 
and  floated  living  forms  as  graceful  and  perfect  as  those 
of  sculptured  gods  and  goddesses. 

I  looked  on  this  wonderful  sight  in  silence  and  ad 
miration  for  a  few  seconds,  and  then,  turning  to  Leda, 
said: 

"I  owe  you  a  thousand  thanks  for  bringing  me  here. 
I  never  saw  anything  so  ravishingly  beautiful  before." 

"It  is  indeed  lovely,"  said  she.  "Almost  worth  com 
ing  from  England  to  see, — is  it  not?" 

"But  there  are  Leonidas  and  Daphne.  Will  you  not 
bring  them  here,  Dion?" 


132  IONIA. 

And  her  brother  dived  swiftly  into  the  water,  and  for 
the  moment  disappeared.  I  stood  up  to  see  if  I  could 
distinguish  our  two  friends  amongst  the  amphibians 
below,  and  there  stood  Leonidas  grasping  the  trident  to 
steady  himself,  while  his  other  hand  held  one  of 
Daphne's.  His  figure  showed  to  no  disadvantage  beside 
the  massive  form  of  Poseidon,  while  Daphne  might 
have  been  taken  for  Venus  herself,  about  to  rise  from 
the  sea,  except  that  there  was  more  of  drapery  about  her 
than  the  goddess  is  usually  supposed  to  wear.  Presently 
Dion  was  beside  them,  but  by  this  time  they  had  been 
a  good  many  seconds  below,  and  were  under  the  neces 
sity  of  coming  to  the  surface  to  breathe.  Daphne  gave 
her  free  hand  to  Dion,  Leonidas  let  go  his  hold  of  the 
trident,  and  the  three  floated  gently  upward  out  of  the 
illuminated  space  into  the  darker  water  above,  where 
we  lost  sight  of  them,  but  presently  they  came  up  the 
steps  and  joined  us. 

There  were  probably  fifty  or  sixty  people  in  the  cave, 
but  the  perpendicular  walls  at  the  ends  echoed  every 
sound  so  sharply  that  there  seemed  a  perfect  babel  of 
talk  going  on,  as  if  thousands  of  people  were  gathered 
together  in  the  comparatively  small  space,  and  every 
one  talking  his  hardest  to  every  one  else.  There  was 
no  shouting  or  screaming,  but  a  confused,  low  murmur, 
which  neither  gained  nor  diminished  in  volume,  but 
suddenly  there  was  a  shrill  bugle  call  from  the  other 
side,  and  midway  between  the  two  ends.  It  was  only 
a  human  voice,  but  the  imitation  was  so  perfect  that  I 
thought  the  sound  came  from  a  brass  instrument. 
Everybody  stopped  speaking,  so  that  the  bugler  might 
have  it  all  to  himself,  and  as  the  sound  of  these  voices 
died  away  and  the  echoes  caught  the  bugle  notes  and  re 
peated  them  again  and  again,  it  seemed  as  if  a  whole 


A  MODEL  CITY.  133 

company  of  buglers  were  playing  together,  and  each 
trying  to  outpeal  the  others.  When  the  voice  ceased, 
the  echoes  gradually  became  fainter  and  fainter,  as  if 
withdrawn  to  distances  more  and  more  remote.  When 
they  had  altogether  ceased,  the  same  voice,  or  another 
equally  clear  and  resonant,  commenced  singing  a  kind 
of  a  chant,  which  sounded  pleasant  enough,  but  had 
very  little  melody.  The  tones  of  it,  however,  must  have 
been  skillfully  arranged,  for  before  three  lines  had  been 
sung,  the  echoes  furnished  the  most  harmonious  chords 
as  an  accompaniment;  the  effect  was  very  fine,  and  filled 
the  cave  with  a  weird,  unearthly  kind  of  harmony.  This 
was  also  allowed  to  die  away  into  silence,  the  last  whis 
pering  notes  seeming  the  sweetest  of  all,  and  then  the 
singer  gave  vent  to  a  loud  "Ha,"  which,  being  echoed 
rapidly  from  end  to  end,  had  all  the  effect  of  a  peal  of 
laughter  so  natural  as  to  be  contagious,  and  forcing  the 
audience  to  join  in  real  laughter  almost  in  spite  of  them 
selves.  This  was  the  signal  to  go,  and  everybody  took 
to  the  water  and  swam  out  in  swift  procession  to  the 
open  air.  As  our  time  was  up,  we  all  made  for  the  points 
from  which  we  had  started,  but  all  the  way  down  Dion 
and  Leonidas  kept  gamboling  like  a  pair  of  dolphins, 
now  under  the  water  and  now  on  the  surface,  playing  all 
sorts  of  tricks,  and  seemingly  able  to  live  without  air 
for  a  surprising  length  of  time,  for  they  never  came  up 
panting,  and  would  dive  again  after  a  breath  or  two  just 
as  if  the  water  were  their  natural  element. 

On  the  way  home,  I  asked  Dion  if  all  the  people  in 
Ionia  were  expert  swimmers,  or  if  those  I  had  seen  this 
morning  were  the  exception? 

In  reply  he  said: 

"Every  person  in  Ionia  above  the  age  of  six  or  seven 
can  swim.  It  is  part  of  our  education,  and  one  of  the 
first  things  that  are  taught  us.  Everywhere  there  is 


134  IONIA. 

abundance  of  water.  Those  parts  of  the  country  that 
are  far  from  the  lake  have  the  river  or  the  canals,  and 
every  city  and  town  has  large  open-air  swimming  baths 
like  the  one  we  have  just  been  enjoying  ourselves  in. 
Every  school  has  shallow  tanks  for  the  use  of  the  young 
children,  and  it  is  impossible  for  any  one  to  grow  up 
amongst  us  without  acquiring  the  art  of  swimming.  Our 
climate  is  favorable  to  it,  too,  for  open-air  bathing  is 
enjoyable  for  nine  or  ten  months  in  the  year,  and  as  it 
is  a  very  healthful  exercise,  it  is  neglected  by  no  one, 
and  the  result  is,  as  you  have  seen  this  morning,  we  are 
not  far  from  being  amphibious  animals." 

"It  appears  to  me,"  said  I,  "that  you  can  turn  your 
selves  into  aquatic  animals  altogether  when  you  please, 
for  those  two  men  we  saw  this  morning  in  the  racing 
suits,  as  you  called  them,  seemed  more  like  seals  than 
men.  Is  that  kind  of  swimming  much  in  vogue  amongst 
you?" 

"It  is  practiced  only  by  a  few,  and  does  not  add  very 
much  to  the  pleasure  of  swimming,  for  it  is  very  fatigu 
ing  until  one  becomes  used  to  it,  and  makes  diving 
almost  impossible.  The  choice  of  positions  is  very  lim 
ited,  as  you  must  swim  either  on  your  back  or  on  the 
right  or  left  side.  On  the  other  hand  it  is  very  safe,  for 
the  hood  is  inflated  with  air,  and  those  who  are  accus 
tomed  to  it  can  accomplish  long  distances  in  a  short 
time.  It  is  no  unusual  thing  for  a  party  of  two  or  three 
to  leave  the  city  in  the  morning,  swim  the  whole  length 
of  the  lake,  and,  after  a  little  rest  and  refreshment,  start 
on  the  return  trip  and  finish  it  before  night." 

"Well,  it  is  a  wonderful  accomplishment  to  beat  the 
fish  in  their  own  element,  but  I  think  the  ordinary  swim 
ming  is  good  enough  for  me.  I  feel  much  refreshed  by 


A  MODEL  CITY.  135 

the  morning  exercise,  and  I  mean  to  repeat  it  if  you  do 
not  find  me  in  the  way." 

"On  the  contrary,  we  are  delighted  to  have  you  with 
us,  and  you  swim  like  one  of  ourselves,  so  you  must 
come  every  morning  until  the  cold  weather  sets  in." 

"You  flatter  me  too  much,  Dion,  but  I  mean  to  take 
advantage  of  the  opportunity  and  try  to  improve  by  your 
example." 

As  soon  as  breakfast  was  over  that  morning  my  host 
intimated  to  me  that  his  chief  business  for  the  present 
was  to  make  me  better  acquainted  with  the  people  and 
the  country,  and  if  I  felt  inclined,  he  proposed  that  we 
should  go  for  a  ride  through  the  city  and  see  some  of 
its  chief  thoroughfares  and  buildings.  In  this  I,  of 
course,  readily  acquiesced,  wondering  at  the  same  time 
what  kind  of  carriage  we  should  ride  in,  as  I  had  not  as 
yet  seen  any  of  their  vehicles,  except  at  a  distance. 
When  we  were  ready  to  start,  he  took  me  to  the  coach 
house  in  the  rear  portion  of  the  grounds,  and  there 
showed  me  no  less  than  eight  handsome  carriages  of 
various  sizes,  made  to  carry  from  two  to  six  p"ersons, 
some  open  and  others  covered.  They  were  of  light  con 
struction,  beautifully  painted,  and  all  as  bright  and  clean 
as  if  they  had  just  left  the  carriage  factory. 

"What  handsome  vehicles  these  are,"  I  said.  "You 
must  have  an  excellent  coachman  to  keep  them  in  such 
splendid  order." 

"We  have  no  coachman,  and  need  none.  There  is  no 
dust  nor  mud  on  our  streets,  and  the  carriages  need  no 
more  attention  than  the  furniture  in  the  house.  But 
choose  which  one  you  will  ride  in." 

I  pointed  to  one  of  the  smallest,  which  seemed  very 
comfortable  for  two,  and  my  friend  asked  me  to  step  in, 
and  he  followed  and  sat  down  beside  me.  Then,  at  the 


136  IONIA. 

touch  of  a  lever,  the  carriage  backed  out,  turned,  and 
bowled  away  over  the  lawn  to  the  road  below.  The 
wheels  having  rubber  tires,  a  carriage-drive  was  un 
necessary,  as  they  made  very  little  impression  on  the 
grass.  There  was  a  graceful  elegance  about  this  little 
vehicle,  with  its  finely-moulded  front,  which  made  it 
suggestive  of  the  pretty  barges  I  had  seen  on  the  lake, 
and  I  smiled  as  I  thought  of  the  clumsy  contrivances 
our  horseless  carriages  are  at  home,  which  always  look 
as  if  they  were  meant  to  have  horses  before  them  to 
give  them  a  finished  appearance.  It  was  more  like  sail 
ing,  too,  than  riding  on  land,  for  the  motion  of  the 
pneumatic  tires  over  this  perfectly  smooth  pavement 
produced  neither  jar  nor  noise. 

We  passed  first  along  the  front  street,  with  the  lake 
on  our  left  and  the  superb  buildings  of  the  university 
on  the  other, — buildings  which  I  should  have  said  were 
peerless  had  I  not  visited  the  Acropolis  the  day  before. 
We  turned  to  the  right  when  we  reached  the  river,  and 
here  a  scene  of  extraordinary  bustle  and  activity  pre 
sented  itself.  The  broad  streets  and  the  bridges,  which 
seemed  innumerable,  were  full  of  vehicles  and  foot-pas 
sengers;  the  river  was  covered  with  boats  and  vessels 
of  all  sizes,  moving  swiftly  up  and  down,  but  the  din 
and  roar  of  city  streets  as  we  know  them  was  absent,  a 
subdued  murmur  of  human  voices  and  the  gentle  sound 
of  the  tiny  waves  breaking  on  the  beach  behind  us  were 
all  that  could  be  heard.  The  soft  tires  of  wagon  or  car 
riage  made  no  noise  on  those  immaculately  smooth 
streets,  and  the  vessels,  propelled  by  the  same  electric 
force,  made  no  noise  in  moving  up  or  down  the  stream. 
It  seemed  like  enchantment  to  be  in  the  midst  of  such 
a  busy  scene,  and  yet  be  surrounded  by  almost  perfect 
silence,  and  I  had  to  rub  my  eyes  more  than  once  be- 


A  MODEL  CITY.  137 

fore  I  could  persuade  myself  that  I  was  wide  awake 
and  not  dreaming. 

''Jason, "  I  said,  "you  must  speak  to  me,  or  I  shall 
think  I  have  gone  suddenly  deaf." 

"How  so,  Alexander?  What  put  such  an  idea  into 
your  head?" 

"It  seems  so  unnatural  to  be  in  the  very  heart  of  a 
city,  with  all  its  active  movement  going  on  before  your 
eyes,  and  yet  not  hear  the  roar  of  business." 

My  friend  laughed  and  said: 

"To  tell  you  the  truth,  it  always  seems  strange  to  me, 
too,  when  I  come  back  from  Europe.  But  you  will  soon 
become  accustomed  to  it,  and  when  you  go  back  you 
will  find  the  hubbub  of  London's  streets  noisy  and  un 
pleasant  for  a  time." 

"I  have  no  doubt  but  you  are  right,  and  the  silence  is 
not  at  all  disagreeable,  only  I  feel  as  if  I  were  dreaming 
all  the  time,  and  to  dispel  that  idea  I  want  you  to  keep 
on  talking,  and  tell  me  all  about  what  we  see.  What  are 
those  beautiful  bridges  made  of?  They  look  so  airy  and 
light  that  it  is  hard  to  believe  they  are  strong  enough  to 
bear  the  traffic  which  is  now  passing  over  them." 

"They  are  of  aluminum,  which  with  us  serves  all  the 
purposes  of  iron  and  steel,  and  a  great  many  other  sub 
stances  besides.  You  know  that  it  is  one  of  the  lightest 
of  metals,  and  wre  have  found  out  how  to  make  it  hard 
and  tough  like  finely  tempered  steel,  and  its  lightness 
enables  us  to  obtain  strength  and  solidity,  with  a  great 
saving  of  material.  Iron  is  a  scarce  mineral  in  our 
mountains,  wrhich  seemed  a  great  hardship  in  the  early 
days  of  our  separation  from  the  rest  of  the  world,  but 
ultimately  proved  the  greatest  boon,  by  forcing  us  to 
find  out  how  to  extract  this  infinitely  more  serviceable 


138  IONIA. 

metal  from  the  rocks  and  the  soil,  which  contain  it  in 
inexhaustible  quantities." 

"I  never  saw  such  handsome  bridges  or  such  a  mag 
nificent  street  as  this.  Palaces  on  either  hand  as  far  as 
the  eye  can  see,  and  so  many  handsome  domes  and 
towers  rising  far  and  near.  What  are  those  splendid 
structures  opposite  to  us?" 

"Those  are  the  city  public  buildings." 

"And  these  on  this  side,  which  are  only  a  little  less 
magnificent?" 

"These  are  mostly  hotels  and  banks." 

"And  where  are  the  stores,  and  the  workshops,  and 
the  dwelling-houses  of  the  people?" 

"I  shall  show  you  them  all  before  the  day  is  much 
older.  We  shall  turn  to  the  right  at  the  next  corner, 
and  we  shall  be  in  Mercer  street,  where  the  ladies  do  a 
large  part  of  their  shopping." 

But  when  we  arrived  there,  I  could  see  nothing  resem 
bling  our  retail  shops, — no  display  windows,  no  flaunt 
ing  signs,  nothing  that  I  could  see  to  indicate  that  goods 
were  offered  for  sale.  The  street  was  wide  and  filled 
with  handsome  carriages,  the  buildings  were  high  and 
stately,  with  large  plate-glass  windows,  and  on  each  side 
were  handsome  trees,  which  afforded  a  continuous  shade 
to  pedestrians  on  the  sidewalk,  but  not  tall  enough  to 
obscure  the  light  of  the  windows  even  of  the  first  story. 

"Well,"  said  I,  "this  is  a  very  pretty  street,  but  where 
are  the  stores?" 

"All  these  buildings  are  stores,  and  judging  by  the 
number  of  people  passing  in  and  out  I  should  say  they 
are  doing  a  very  good  business." 

"But  they  have  no  signs  out,  and  no  display  windows 
— nothing  to  attract  customers." 

"If  you  look  carefully,  you  will  see  the  merchant's 


A  MODEL  CITY.  139 

name  and  business  displayed  over  each  door,  but  the 
goods  inside  are  the  attraction,  and  the  customers  will 
come  where  they  are  most  satisfactory.  In  this  country 
we  spend  very  little  money  in  advertising,  and  it  would 
not  pay  if  we  did.  Our  people  do  not  believe  in  bar 
gains,  but  are  willing  to  pay  a  good  price  for  a  good 
article.  We  thus  save  the  immense  sums  which  go  to 
support  your  far  too  numerous  newspapers,  as  well  as 
the  money  which  is  spent  in  disfiguring  your  streets  and 
public  conveyances.  Our  wholesale  merchants  do  not 
keep  up  an  army  of  commercial  travelers  or  flood  the 
postoffice  with  lying  circulars,  and  in  this  way  they  can 
do  business  on  a  much  smaller  margin,  and  the  com 
munity  at  large  is  the  gainer  to  an  enormous  extent." 

"But  I  do  not  see  how  new  goods  or  new  business 
houses  can  be  brought  before  the  public  in  any  other 
way." 

"New  lines  of  goods  can  easily  be  introduced  by  old- 
established  merchants  if  they  are  of  real  value,  and  of 
that  they  are,  perhaps,  the  best  judges.  As  for  new  busi 
ness  enterprises,  they  will  always  be  supported  if  they 
are  required,  and  if  not,  they  had  better  be  left  alone. 
You  are  aware  that  amongst  your  merchants  failure  is 
the  rule  and  success  the  rare  exception,  amounting  only 
to  some  five  per  cent,  of  all  those  engaging  in  business. 
With  us  it  is  the  reverse,  and  such  a  thing  as  bankruptcy 
is  almost  unknown.  Our  people  are  not  in  such  a  hurry 
to  get  rich  as  to  embark  in  any  undertaking  without 
forethought  or  the  means  of  compelling  success,  which 
are, — capital,  experience  and  good  judgment.  In  this 
way,  we  avoid  the  loss  which  results  from  bad  debts 
and  from  commercial  panics,  which  are  impossible  in 
such  a  community  as  ours." 

"Do  you  mean  me  to  understand  that  your  merchants 


140  IONIA. 

and  business  men  enjoy  uninterrupted  prosperity,  and 
that  they  never  know  what  dull  times  are?" 

"I  mean  that  they  do  not  encounter  the  extreme  fluc 
tuations  in  business  that  your  merchants  have  to  con 
tend  with.  The  periods  of  depression  which  result  in 
the  closing  of  factories  and  the  swamping  of  large  num 
bers  of  commercial  houses  are  caused  by  lack  of  confi 
dence  in  the  ability  of  debtors  to  meet  their  obligations, 
but  where  there  is  no  inflation  of  credit  there  can  be  no 
lack  of  confidence.  Now,  in  Ionia,  cash  payments  are 
the  universal  rule,  and  no  one  asks  or  could  obtain  more 
credit  than  what  is  necessary  for  the  convenience  of  busi 
ness.  In  retail  trade,  cash  payments  are  the  rule  for  each 
,.' '  transaction,  and  in  wholesale  business  accounts  are  set 
tled  monthly,  and  if  the  buyer  is  unable  to  liquidate  his 
account  on  the  usual  day,  his  credit  is  at  an  end:  he  can 
buy  no  more  goods,  and  must  go  out  of  business. 
Everyone  knows  this,  and  therefore  it  is  that  no  one 
embarks  in  trade  with  the  idea  of  being  carried  along  by 
credit  obtained  from  the  bank  or  the  manufacturer,  but 
first  provides  himself  with  sufficient  capital  to  pay  his 
way  under  all  circumstances.  Thus  you  see  that  such 
a  thing  as  'panic'  cannot  exist,  for  the  soil  of  credit  or 
financial  dependency  in  which  it  grows  is  altogether  too 
limited  amongst  us  for  it  ever  to  take  root." 

"Have  you  no  such  thing  as  joint  stock  companies?" 
"Yes,  but  their  stock  is  seldom  for  sale,  and  is,  there 
fore,  not  used  for  speculation.  Nearly  all  our  large  busi 
ness  houses  are  joint  stock  companies,  but  the  share 
holders  are  generally  those  who  are  engaged  in  carry 
ing  on  the  business.  Not  only  the  managers  but  the 
bookkeepers,  clerks  and  salesmen,  and  in  manufacturing 
business  the  foreman  and  mechanics  very  commonly 
own  more  or  less  of  the  stock.  The  privilege  oi  pur- 


A  MODEL  CITY.  141 

chasing  it  is  one  of  the  rewards  of  zeal  and  ability,  and 
the  result  is  that  there  is  hardly  any  such  distinction 
amongst  us  as  employers  and  employes,  for  all  except 
those  least  skilled  or  competent  are  interested  in  the 
success  of  each  undertaking,  and  each  contributes  his 
best  endeavors  to  produce  the  finest  results." 

While  giving  these  explanations  my  friend  had  turned 
our  noiseless  carriage  westward,  and  we  were  pursuing 
a  course  parallel  to  the  river,  and  had  traversed  the  en 
tire  district  devoted  to  retail  trade,  which  embraced  a 
great  many  handsome  streets.  Those  we  were  now  en 
tering  had  a  different  appearance.  The  private  carriages 
were  fewer  and  their  occupants  mostly  of  the  male  sex, 
and  large  wagons  loaded  with  merchandise  came  and 
went  in  all  directions.  Yet  all  this  movement  was  ac 
complished  without  noise  or  confusion;  every  vehicle 
of  whatever  description  had  wheels  provided  with  pneu 
matic  tires,  and,  keeping  to  its  own  side,  was  propelled 
with  great  speed  by  electricity.  On  approaching  cross 
ings,  they  invariably  slowed  down  considerably,  and  the 
rules  of  the  road  were  so  well  understood  and  acted 
upon  that  there  never  appeared  any  danger  of  collision 
or  blocking  of  traffic  or  any  occasion  for  the  chaff  and 
bickering  which  goes  on  so  continuously  with  our  Lon 
don  drivers. 

There  were  a  great  many  magnificent  buildings  in  the 
streets  we  now  passed  through,  some  of  the  warehouses 
occupying  whole  blocks,  and  built  to  last  for  ages,  but 
always  with  an  eye  to  artistic  effect,  and  I  would  fain 
have  lingered  to  examine  at  leisure  some  of  those  palaces 
of  commerce.  But  Jason  requested  me  to  defer  this  to 
another  visit,  as  his  intention  on  this  first  day  was  to 
give  me  a  general  idea  of  the  plan  of  the  city,  and  that 
would  occupy  all  the  time  at  our  disposal.  At  this  point 


142  IONIA. 

commenced  a  series  of  canals  communicating  with  the 
river,  and  running  at  right  angles  to  it  alternately  with 
the  streets.  In  this  way  all  the  warehouses  backed  on 
alleys,  which  were  wider  than  the  streets  themselves, 
each  with  a  navigable  canal  running  through  its  center. 
It  was  here  that  the  business  of  receiving  and  shipping 
goods  was  done,  and  the  number  of  vessels  which  lined 
the  wharves  showed  how  large  a  part  the  waterways 
sustain  in  the  commerce  of  the  country. 

The  bridges  were  all  of  similar  construction  to  those 
which  crossed  the  river,  and  seemed  so  light  and  fragile 
as  to  suggest  a  doubt  of  their  solidity,  but  the  great 
volume  of  traffic  which  was  then  passing  over  them 
without  jar  or  perceptible  vibration,  proved  them  to  be 
as  strong  in  reality  as  they  were  airy  in  appearance. 
They  are  constructed  entirely  of  the  metal  aluminum, 
and  the  carriage-way  is  polished  by  the  passing  of  vehi 
cles  so  that  it  shines  like  silver. 

A  few  minutes'  ride  brought  us  to  the  manufacturing 
district,  and  there,  for  the  first  time  since  we  set  out  on 
our  ride,  my  ear  recognized  sounds  such  as  we  are  wont 
to  call  the  hum  of  business. 

"Now,  at  last,"  I  said,  "the  spell  of  enchantment  is 
broken,  and  I  can  perceive  that  this  is  no  phantom  city. 
I  can  hear  the  whirr  of  wheels  and  the  beating  of  ham 
mers,  and  I  am  sure  that  I  am  wide  awake." 

"Is  there  nothing  lacking  now  to  make  it  all  seem 
like  perfect  reality?" 

"Yes;  there  is  the  smoke,  and  grime,  and  dust.  This 
clear,  crystal  atmosphere  seems  out  of  place  in  a  manu 
facturing  district,  and  those  splendid  edifices  of  stone, 
— which  look  as  fresh  as  if  built  yesterday, — are  they 
really  factories?" 

"Every  one  of  them." 


A  MODEL  CITY.  143 

"I  cannot  understand  how  you  manage  to-  carry  on 
all  this  business  without  accumulating  dirt?" 

"The  secret  lies  in  electricity,  which  gives  us  heat,  and 
light  and  mechanical  force,  without  smoke  and  the  other 
waste  products  of  combustion." 

"But,"  said  I,  "it  is  not  only  the  earth  and  the  air  that 
are  so  spotlessly  clean,  but  the  water  also?  The  very 
canals  which  we  cross  are  full  of  pure,  clear  water,  and 
I  can  see  numbers  of  fishes  swimming  in  their  depths." 

"The  reason  of  that,"  said  Jason,  "is  that  they  are 
filled  with  living  water.  They  are  fed  from  a  higher 
level  of  the  river,  and  there  are  always  currents  flowing 
through  them.  Stagnant  water  is  always  more  or  less 
detrimental  to  health,  and  we  do  not  suffer  such  a  thing 
in  Ionia.  Nor  do  we  allow  any  impurities  to  be  drained 
into  canal,  river  or  lake.  The  factories  have  to  dispose 
of  their  waste  products  in  some  other  way,  just  as  the 
towns  and  cities  do  of  their  sewage,  and  the  community 
gains  not  only  in  health  but  in  wealth  as  well,  for  all  the 
waste  material  is  ultimately  returned  to  the  soil,  which  is 
thereby  enriched  and  made  more  and  more  productive." 

We  had  now  arrived  at  a  part  of  the  city  where  the 
land  seemed  to  occupy  less  space  than  the  water,  for  we 
found  ourselves  amongst  a  perfect  network  of  canals  and 
basins.  The  quiet  of  the  business  portion  of  the  city  had 
given  place  to  a  babel  of  sounds  produced  by  the  clang 
of  hammers  and  the  buzz  of  turning-lathes  pertaining  to 
the  industry  of  ship-building.  Jason  stopped  the  car 
riage  at  the  door  of  a  handsome  office  building  of  granite, 
and  saying  that  this  was  the  establishment  of  our  friend, 
Van  Tromp,  he  took  me  inside,  through  the  counting- 
room,  where  several  clerks  were  busy  with  their  ledgers. 
To  one  of  these  Jason  spoke,  asking  if  Leonidas  was  to 
be  seen,  and  this  gentleman  conducted  us  to  a  large 


144  IONIA. 

apartment  in  the  rear,  where  we  found  the  young  Goth 
himself,  busy  with  a  number  of  drawings  spread  over  a 
large  table.  Leonidas  greeted  us  warmly,  and  offered 
to  take  us  over  the  yards  and  show  us  how  ships  were 
built  in  Ionia. 

I  said  I  should  be  delighted,  if  it  were  not  taking  up 
too  much  of  his  valuable  time. 

''My  time,"  said  he,  "could  not  be  spent  to  a  more 
laudable  end,  and  my  work  will  not  suffer,  for  I  always 
manage  to  keep  abreast  of  it  and  never  let  it  get  behind. 
And  first,"  he  said,  "let  me  show  you  some  of  these 
models,  of  which  there  are,  as  you  see,  several  hundred 
in  this  room." 

So  he  showed  us  all  the  different  descriptions  of  sail 
ing  craft  which  he  had  built, — barges  and  passenger 
boats  for  the  river,  fishing  boats,  yachts  and  larger  ves 
sels  for  lake  navigation.  Every  model  seemed  perfect 
of  its  kind,  with  exquisite  lines  for  swift  sailing  and 
sumptuous  cabins  for  the  accommodation  of  passengers 
and  crew.  I  noticed  that  only  one  or  two  of  the  pleasure 
yachts  were  fitted  with  masts,  and  he  explained  that  sails 
were  only  used  by  a  very  few  who  fancied  that  kind  of 
pastime.  All  the  vessels  used  in  the  country  were  pro 
pelled  by  electricity,  and  neither  masts  nor  smoke-stacks 
were  required.  The  bridges  over  the  river  would  not 
allow  of  such  useless  encumbrances,  and  the  great  ma 
jority  of  all  the  vessels  in  use,  either  for  passengers  or 
freight,  had  to  pass  under  these  bridges  almost  daily. 

He  then  invited  me  to  come  and  see  some  of  the 
vessels  now  under  construction,  and  we  visited  a  num 
ber  of  ships,  and  inspected  at  least  a  dozen  vessels  of 
various  sizes  in  all  stages  of  progress.  I  remarked  that 
none  of  them  were  very  large,  and  Leonidas  reminded 
me  that  the  voyages  they  had  to  make  were  very  short, 


A  MODEL  CITY.  145 

and  that  it  would  hardly  pay  to  build  ships  which  would 
take  longer  to  load  than  it  would  to  make  their  whole 
trip.  The  largest  vessel  we  saw  was  for  passengers:  it 
was  of  about  a  thousand  tons  measurement,  and  was  for 
the  lake  service,  leaving  the  city  each  morning  and  call 
ing  at  all  the  principal  ports,  and  returning  the  same 
day.  Leonidas  pointed  out  that  all  the  vessels  were  con 
structed  with  double  hulls,  with  air  spaces  between,  and 
that  the  keel  and  the  ribs  divided  these  spaces  into  a  vast 
number  of  air-tight  compartments,  so  that  the  piercing 
of  the  hull  in  several  places  would  not  cause  it  to  sink. 
In  fact,  he  assured  us  that  it  was  impossible  to  sink  one 
of  these  vessels,  even  if  the  water  poured  into  the  hold 
through  several  large  holes,  provided  the  cargo  were  not 
of  unusually  heavy  material  and  greater  than  the  vessel 
was  warranted  to  carry. 

The  inner  and  outer  shells  were  formed  of  thin  plates 
of  aluminum,  and  I  remarked  that  they  seemed  of  rather 
weak  material  for  the  purpose.  For  reply  Leonidas  took 
up  a  large  sledge-hammer,  and,  swinging  it  several  times 
round  his  head  with  one  hand,  struck  the  side  of  the  ves 
sel  by  which  we  were  standing  a  blow  which  would  have 
shattered  an  ordinary  boiler-plate,  but  the  only  result 
was  that  the  hammer  was  thrown  back  with  great  force 
by  the  elasticity  of  the  plate,  which  showed  scarcely  any 
mark  from  the  blow.  I  took  up  the  hammer  itself,  which 
was  of  bright,  white  metal,  and  found  it  so  heavy  as  to 
require  the  strength  of  both  my  arms  to  raise  it  as  high 
as  my  head. 

"What  makes  this  hammer  so  heavy?"  I  asked.  "It 
seems  to  be  made  of  aluminum,  like  everything  else, 
but  it  is  much  heavier  than  iron." 

"It  is  aluminum  outside,"  said  the  ship-builder,  "and 
tempered  in  a  peculiar  way,  so  that  it  is  as  hard  as  glass 
10 


146  IONIA. 

and  tougher  than  your  finest  steel,  but  it  has  a  core  of 
lead,  and  that  gives  it  the  weight  required  to  strike  an 
effective  blow." 

"I  had  no  idea  that  it  could  be  so  heavy  when  I  saw 
you  swing  it  with  one  hand  just  now,  and  after  that  ex 
hibition  of  your  strength  I  should  be  very  sorry  for  any 
man  who  would  be  rash  enough  to  quarrel  with  you." 

Leonidas  looked  very  grave  at  this  foolish  speech  of 
mine,  and  said: 

"Surely  you  do  not  think  I  would  take  advantage  of 
the  strength  of  my  muscles  to  hurt  any  one!  The  man 
who  would  get  into  a  fight  in  Ionia  would  be  for  ever 
disgraced.  We  never  have  any  opportunity  of  fighting, 
except  with  bears  or  tigers  in  the  Indian  jungles  when 
we  go  on  our  hunting  expeditions,  and  you  must  join 
us  on  the  next  one  we  undertake, — that  is,  if  you  would 
find  any  pleasure  in  such  a  thing." 

"I  did  not  know  that  you  ever  left  the  country  for  such 
a  purpose." 

"Oh,  yes;  we  do  frequently.  We  go  in  our  air-ships, 
and  accomplish  the  journey  by  night  to  avoid  observa 
tion.  Our  aerial  mode  of  traveling  enables  us  to  pene 
trate  to  parts  of  the  jungle  where  no  other  human  being 
ever  set  foot,  and  we  always  find  plenty  of  game." 

"I  should  much  like  to  go  with  you  as  a  spectator,  but 
I  am  no  sportsman,  myself." 

"Very  well;  I  will  see  that  you  have  the  opportunity 
at  no  very  distant  date." 

"I  thank  you  for  that,"  said  I,  "and  for  your  valuable 
time  this  morning." 

"On  the  contrary,"  said  he,  "it  is  I  who  have  to  thank 
you  for  honoring  my  establishment  with  so  early  a  visit, 
and  if  you  would  but  stay  a  little  longer,  there  are  other 


A  MODEL  CITY.  147 

things  about  the  yards  which  I  might  be  able  to  interest 
you  in." 

"Some  other  day,  Leonidas,"  said  Jason.  "I  promised 
our  guest  a  general  view  of  the  city  to-day,  and  we  have 
not  crossed  the  river  yet." 

"In  that  case,  I  must  not  hinder  you,"  said  Leonidas, 
"and  I  hope  you  will  have  a  pleasant  day." 

So  we  left  the  ship-yard,  and,  riding  eastward,  crossed 
the  river  by  one  of  its  innumerable  bridges.  We  were 
still  surrounded  by  workshops  and  factories,  the  busy 
hum  of  which  enabled  me  to  realize  that  I  was  sur 
rounded  by  members  of  my  own  species,  although  the 
architectural  magnificence  of  the  various  buildings  we 
passed  suggested  the  idea  that  we  were  surrounded  by 
the  workshops  of  the  gods. 

A  few  minutes  of  swift  riding  brought  us  to  a  different 
kind  of  scene,  in  which  I  felt  spell-bound,  as  in  the  morn 
ing,  by  silence. 

We  were  in  the  residence  district.  Wide,  straight 
streets  extended  in  every  direction,  with  breadths  of 
smooth,  green  grass  and  rows  of  handsome  shade-trees 
on  each  side.  Each  block  was  occupied  by  one  great 
building,  with  entrances  at  the  corners  and  in  the  center 
of  each  side.  No  two  blocks  were  alike,  but  with  a  gen 
eral  harmony  in  height  and  design,  there  was  great 
variety  in  style  and  material,  so  that  each  one  as  we 
passed  it  seemed  more  perfect  in  beauty  than  those  that 
had  gone  before.  After  a  few  minutes  of  silent  admira 
tion,  I  asked: 

"Are  these  great  palaces  the  residences  of  your  mil 
lionaires?" 

"Oh,  no,"  said  Jason,  "this  is  where  our  mechanics,  V.J* 
and  clerks,  and  all  people  of  ordinary  incomes,  have  their 
abode.    Each  family  occupies  only  a  suite  of  rooms,  of 


148  IONIA. 

course,  and  they  find  it  more  economical  and  convenient 
than  having  separate  houses.  Your  English  people 
make  a  great  mistake  in  spreading  your  cities  over  such 
a  vast  extent  of  territory." 

"It  is  a  mere  prejudice,  no  doubt,"  said  I,  "but  an 
Englishman's  house  is  his  castle,  and  he  does  not  be 
lieve  in  sharing  it  with  anybody  else." 

'That  is  all  very  well  when  he  lives  in  the  country, 
but  in  the  cities  it  is  the  height  of  folly.  The  inhabitants 
of  London  could  have  much  better  habitations  than  they 
have  now,  on  a  quarter  of  the  space  at  present  occupied. 
The  street  architecture  and  the  paving  of  the  streets 
might  be  infinitely  better,  with  only  half  the  outlay.  The 
cost  of  gas  and  water  mains,  of  street  lighting  and  of 
transportation  would  all  be  reduced  to  a  quarter  of  what 
they  are  at  present.  The  same  might  be  said  of  the  cost 
of  your  police  department, — a  thing  of  which  we  in 
Ionia  know  nothing  about,  for  we  have  no  police  force, 
and,  happily,  no  need  for  any.  •  One  other  advantage  you 
would  have  in  the  economy  of  space,  and  that  is  that 
you  would  be  able  to  devote  more  ground  to  parks  and 
places  of  recreation  for  young  and  old.  You  have  some 
noble  parks  in  London,  but  there  are  too  few  of  them, 
and  they  are  too  far  away  from  the  dwellings  of  those 
who  need  them  most.  Here  in  lolkos,  you  will  find  one 
within  a  mile,  at  the  farthest,  of  any  dwelling-house.  We 
are  just  coming  to  one  of  these  play-grounds  now,  and 
you  will  see  how  much  they  are  appreciated." 

While  Jason  was  speaking,  I  became  aware  of  a  lively 
sound  of  children's  voices  like  what  we  hear  when  a 
large  school  sends  forth  its  hundreds  of  children  from 
the  decorum  of  the  class-room  to  the  freedom  of  the 
play-ground.  In  a  few  seconds  we  were  in  the  midst  of 
a  park  occupying  four  ordinary  blocks,  and  divided  in  two 


A  MODEL  CITY.  149 

by  the  street  on  which  we  were  riding.  Each  half  of 
this  space  was  surrounded  by  trees,  and  shrubs,  and 
pretty  beds  of  flowers,  affording  shady  walks  and  com 
fortable  benches  for  old  people,  and  mothers  with  young 
children  in  their  charge.  The  center  of  each  was  a  large 
well-kept  lawn,  where  the  youths  of  both  sexes  disported 
themselves  in  all  kinds  of  games  and  exercises.  One 
side  was  reserved  for  school-children,  and  the  other  to 
young  men  and  women  old  enough  to  attend  the  uni 
versity.  The  day  being  Saturday,  and  the  schools  closed, 
the  number  of  those  engaged  in  play  was  much  larger 
than  it  would  have  been  on  any  other  week-day,  and  we 
stopped  a  few  moments  to  enjoy  the  lively  scene.  The 
beautiful  forms  and  faces  of  these  young  people,  their 
handsome  dresses  and  their  extraordinary  agility  in  the 
various  games  made  up  a  picture  which  the  older  people 
about  evidently  enjoyed  very  much,  and  which  I  felt 
loath  to  leave  behind,  but  Jason  reminded  me  that  we 
had  still  far  to  go,  and  that  we  would  find  the  same  scene 
repeated  at  many  points  of  our  drive.  We  continued 
on  our  way  through  streets  similar  to  those  we  had  al 
ready  passed,  and  soon  came  to  another  park  like  the 
first,  except  that  in  the  center  was  a  large  building  with 
a  beautiful  dome,  which  I  learned  was  a  public  library, 
one  of  many  which  the  city  contained,  and  which  were 
scattered  over  the  city  so  as  to  be  easy  of  access  to  the 
people  of  each  district.  Another  of  these  parks  showed 
a  building  like  an  ancient  Greek  temple  of  the  Doric 
order,  which  Jason  said  was  a  picture  gallery,  open  to 
the  public  every  day  in  the  year.  We  passed  a  good 
many  magnificent  public  buildings,  all  of  which  were  in 
the  center  of  parks,  or  occupying  squares  free  of  other 
buildings,  so  that  their  full  beauty  could  be  seen  and 
appreciated  from  all  sides.  Continuing  our  course  main- 


150  IONIA. 

ly  in  a  southerly  direction,  we  arrived  in  a  district  occu 
pied  by  the  houses  of  the  wealthier  citizens,  each  stand 
ing  on  its  own  grounds,  which  were  beautifully  adorned 
with  shrubs,  and  flowers,  and  statuary.  The  houses  were 
the  most  costly  in  material,  and  the  most  elegant  in  de 
sign  that  I  had  ever  seen,  and  there  seemed  to  be  no  end 
of  them,  mile  after  mile  of  such  streets  and  residences, 
showing  the  wealth  of  the  city  to  be  vastly  greater  than 
that  of  any  other  in  the  world.  We  returned  by  the 
drive  along  the  lake  front,  which  was  rilled  with  car 
riages — public  and  private.  It  was  past  three  o'clock, 
and  the  citizens  were  returning  from  the  labors  of  the 
day;  some  were  wealthy  merchants,  some  more  humble 
— mechanics  and  clerks, — but  so  far  as  appearance  or 
dress  was  concerned,  it  was  impossible  for  one  to  dis 
tinguish  which  was  which.  There  was  not  one  amongst 
them  all  but  would  have  attracted  attention  in  any  city 
of  Europe  as  a  remarkably  handsome  and  distinguished- 
looking  man. 


CHAPTER   VII. 
A  DAY  OF  REST. 

The  next  day,  being  the  first  of  the  week,  was  a  day 
of  absolute  rest  from  almost  every  kind  of  labor.  We 
sat  out  on  the  verandah  after  breakfast,  reading  the 
weekly  journals,  which  are  published  on  Saturday  night 
and  devoted  to  literature,  science  and  art,  rather  than  to 
what  we  call  news.  To  the  Ionian  the  various  moves 
and  feints  of  the  European  game  of  politics  are  abso 
lutely  devoid  of  interest,  and  if  a  murder  had  been  com 
mitted  or  a  train  wrecked  anywhere  in  Europe  or 


A  DAY  OF  REST.  151 

America,  he  would  rather  not  hear  of  it,  and  such  things 
do  not  occur  in  his  own  country.  Hence  there  is  little 
demand  for  daily  newspapers,  and,  although  one  is  pub 
lished  at  government  expense,  and  containing  all  official 
announcements  and  proclamations,  it  is  but  little  read, 
and  its  circulation  is  very  small.  The  Ionian  is  content 
to  take  his  current  history  of  the  world  in  weekly  in 
stallments,  and,  even  so,  it  must  be  condensed  into  a  few 
sfiorT  paragraphs. 

As  we  sat  reading  that  morning,  with  the  most  beau 
tiful  scene  in  the  world  spread  out  before  us, — blue  water, 
purple  mountain  and  gray  city  all  luminous  in  the  clear 
air  and  warm  September  sun, — it  seemed  to  me  as  if  I 
had  never  seen  the  idea  of  a  Sabbath  so  perfectly  real 
ized.  Now  and  again  a  vessel,  full  of  passengers  for  the 
country,  passed  from  the  river  and  sailed  away  down  the 
lake,  but  there  were  no  other  boats  about,  no  vehicles 
were  moving  on  the  street,  and  pedestrians  few  and  far 
between.  It  was  the  day  of  rest  for  all,  and  the  citizens 
were  observing  it  thoroughly,  as  is  their  custom  in  re 
gard  to  everything  they  undertake.  I  made  a  remark  to 
my  host  on  the  delightful  feeling  of  repose  produced  by 
the  absence  of  noise  and  movement,  and  he  replied  that 
it  was  intended  that  the  first  day  of  the  week  should  be 
one  of  complete  cessation  of  labor,  but  that  if  we  were 
on  the  other  side  of  the  city,  where  the  majority  of  the 
people  reside,  I  should  find  abundance  both  of  noise  and 
activity.  From  nine  o'clock  in  the  morning  the  parks 
and  public  play-grounds  are  full  of  young  people,  en 
gaged  in  sports  and  exercises,  and  as  it  would  be  no 
rest  to  them  to  keep  still,  they  make  it  the  busiest  day  of 
the  week. 

"What  about  the  museums  and  picture  galleries?  Are 
they  closed  to-day?"  I  asked. 

"They  are  all  open  in  the  afternoon  and  evening,"  he 


152  IONIA. 

said,  "and  if  the  weather  is  fine,  most  of  the  people  turn 
out  into  the  streets  and  enjoy  a  promenade  or  a  visit 
to  one  or  other  of  these  institutions." 

"And  have  you  no  churches  or  places  for  public  wor 
ship?" 

"We  have  temples  of  music  in  every  district  of  the 
city  and  the  country,  and  it  is  the  custom  for  most  of 
the  people  to  spend  a  couple  of  hours  there  on  the  day 
of  rest.  Come  with  me  to-day,  and  you  can  judge  for 
yourself  whether  they  are  places  of  worship  or  not." 

"I  shall  be  delighted,  of  course.  At  what  hour  are  the 
services  held?" 

"They  commence  at  noon,  and  it  is  nearly  time  for 
us  to  go  now." 

So  we  all  set  out  together,  and  as  the  distance  was  not 
over  a  mile,  we  walked,  Jason  and  his  wife  and  I  in  front, 
while  Dion  followed  with  Leda  and  Eurydice.  As  we 
came  near  the  place,  we  found  ourselves  amongst  quite 
a  throng  of  people,  all  going  in  the  same  direction,  and 
a  few  minutes'  walk  brought  us  to  the  entrance  of  the 
temple,  which  is  a  very  fine  example  of  the  Corinthian 
order,  having  double  rows  of  massive  columns  on  all 
four  sides,  and  no  windows  or  other  openings  in  the 
walls,  except  the  doors  at  one  end.  Having  entered,  I 
found  we  were  in  a  large  hall  with  a  beautifully  arched 
roof,  pierced  by  many  windows,  so  arranged  that  the 
light  was  thrown  upon  the  walls,  and  that  not  a  single 
ray  could  reach  the  floor  directly.  The  walls  were  cov 
ered  with  magnificent  paintings,  on  which"  the  eye  was 
compelled  to  rest,  owing  to  the  dim  lighting  of  the  in 
terior  space.  The  softly-carpeted  floor  was  taken  up  with 
seats  like  the  pews  in  a  church,  except  that  each  indi 
vidual  seat  had  comfortable  arm-rests,  so  that  there 
could  be  no  possibility  of  overcrowding.  A  large  num- 


A  DAY  OF  REST.  153 

ber  of  people  \vere  in  the  place  before  we  arrived,  and 
in  a  few  moments  every  seat  seemed  to  be  occupied,  and 
the  doors  closed.  The  younger  members  of  the  family 
seemed  to  have  got  separated  from  us  in  the  throng  of 
people,  for  when  we  had  taken  our  places  I  found  only 
the  lady  Helen  and  her  husband  near  me.  I  would  have 
asked  what  had  become  of  them,  but  an  absolute  silence 
reigned  in  the  building,  and  I  feared  to  break  it,  even  by 
a  whisper,  lest  I  should  transgress  the  etiquette  of  the 
place,  so  I  held  my  peace  and  occupied  myself  in  ex 
amining  the  beautiful  paintings  which  adorned  the  walls. 
My  attention  became  riveted  upon  one  which  was  on 
my  left  front  near  a  platform  slightly  raised  above  the 
floor,  and  adorned  by  statuary,  and  palms,  and  flower 
ing  plants.  The  picture  itself  was  brightly  lighted  from 
above,  and  represented  an  ocean  bay,  with  woods  and 
meadows  on  one  side  and  a  vast  stretch  of  mountain- 
land  on  the  other;  in  the  foreground,  the  half-naked 
figure  of  a  savage  stood  on  the  beach  beside  a  canoe. 
The  back  of  the  man  only  was  visible,  and  he  seemed  to 
be  waiting  for  the  sunrise,  which  was  evidently  just  at 
hand,  for  there  was  a  silver  streak  on  the  sea  where  it 
joined  the  sky  in  the  center  of  the  picture,  and  some 
fleecy  clouds  which  floated  higher  up  were  already  tinged 
with  a  faint  rose-color,  while  between  them  was  a  broad 
belt  of  sky  glowing  with  pale  amber  light.  Uncon 
sciously  I  began  to  expect  the  rising  sun  in  sympathy 
with  the  figure  in  the  foreground,  and  fell  into  a  reverie 
in  which  I  seemed  to  see  the  colors  change  in  these 
gauzy  clouds  as  the  coming  of  the  sun  sent  his  search 
lights  through  them,  exhibiting  glorious  and  ever- 
changing  harmonies  of  crimson,  and  green,  and  purple, 
and  gold;  the  hill-tops  caught  the  first  rays  of  rosy  light 
as  they  started  upwards;  the  silver  rim  on  the  sea  spread 


154  IONIA. 

and  widened;  the  dawn  was  changing  to  day;  a  mo 
ment  more,  and  the  sun  himself  appeared  in  a  blaze  of 
splendor  which  dazzled  my  sight.  I  passed  my  hand 
across  my  eyes,  looked  again  and  realized  that  I  had 
been  dreaming,  though  awake,  for  the  picture  was  ex 
actly  as  I  had  seen  it  first,  but  the  air  was  filled  with  the 
music  of  many  instruments  in  glorious  harmony.  I  felt 
conscious  of  having  listened  to  the  music  for  some  time, 
but  the  beginning  of  it  had  been  a  series  of  sweet  chords, 
coming  in  soft  whispers,  which  had  translated  themselves 
in  my  mind  into  the  most  gorgeous  sunrise  I  had  ever 
seen  on  land  or  sea.  But  now  the  gentle  zephyrs  of  har 
mony  had  given  place  to  loud-swelling  chords,  sug 
gestive  of  the  full  splendor  of  the  risen  sun  pouring  its 
floods  of  light  and  life  upon  a  newly-awakened  world. 
The  source  of  the  music  was  unseen,  and  I  felt  glad  that 
there  was  no  see-sawing  of  fiddle-bows  or  frantic  move 
ments  of  a  conductor's  baton  obtruding  the  mechanical 
element  in  the  production  of  those  divine  harmonies, 
and  neutralizing  the  exalted  feelings  which  they  inspired. 
The  symphony  came  to  an  end  all  too  soon,  but  was 
followed  by  a  space  of  delightful  quiet,  unbroken  by 
whispering  comment  or  murmuring  gossip,  and  the 
aftertaste  of  the  music  lingered  pleasantly  in  the  brain. 

Again  the  hall  was  filled  with  the  sweet  sounds  of  the 
instruments  rehearsing  a  most  delightful  melody,  and 
then  a  new  note  was  sounded  wliich  thrilled  me  to  the 
soul.  It  was  a  woman's  voice,  but  such  a  voice  as  I 
never  heard  before,  so  velvety  soft  and  sweet,  so  rich  and 
full,  filling  the  hall  with  its  glorious  tones  like  sunshine 
in  a  deep,  clear  river.  It  began  with  a  succession  of 
slow,  clear,  ringing  notes,  and  then  burst  into  a  melody 
of  joy  and  gladness  sweeter  than  any  sky-lark  ever  car 
oled.  I  could  not  distinguish  the  words,  the  language 


A  DAY  OF  REST.  155 

was  not  sufficiently  familiar  to  me,  but  no  words  were 
needed,  for  the  song  told  its  own  story.  It  told,  as  no 
words  can  tell,  of  the  ineffable  joy  of  living  in  a  world 
where  all  things  are  beautiful,  day  and  night,  sunshine 
and  shadow,  flowers  and  stars,  mountain  and  lake,  ver 
dant  plain  and  flowing  river,  all  combining  to  delight  the 
eye  of  man  and  ravish  him  with  infinite  variety;  and  it 
told  of  human  joy,  too,  sweet  affection  and  brotherly 
love,  and  noble  deeds  and  splendid  achievements. 

All  this  and  more  did  that  wonderful  song  suggest, 
and  in  listening  to  it  I  felt  inspired  by  new  hope  and  con 
fidence  in  the  final  triumph  of  right  over  wrong  on  this 
old  sinful  world  of  ours. 

It  came  to  an  end  at  last,  and  I  listened  in  vain 
during  the  service  for  another  strain  from  that  heavenly 
voice.  But  there  was  much  more  of  exquisite  music,  in 
which  many  voices  joined,  and  when,  after  two  hours,  it 
was  over,  and  we  all  walked  home  together,  I  told  my 
friend  Jason  that  of  all  the  religious  services  I  had  ever 
taken  part  in  this  was  not  only  the  most  delightful,  but 
also  the  most  soul-inspiring  and  elevating. 

The  whole  family  sat  down  for  a  while  to  rest  in  the 
shade  in  front  of  the  house,  and  enjoy  the  beauty  of  the 
scene  and  the  delicious  cool  air  that  came  in  gentle 
zephyrs  from  the  lake.  The  talk  ran  upon  the  music  we 
had  been  hearing,  and  I  mentioned  the  strange  effect  pro 
duced  on  my  mind  as  I  looked  at  the  picture  of  the  ris 
ing  sun  and  listened  unconsciously  to  the  music,  and 
Jason  said: 

"You  are  not  the  first  that  has  had  that  experience. 
It  was  the  sunrise  symphony  that  was  being  played,  and 
the  first  notes  of  it  are  so  soft  and  low  that  if  your  eyes 
were  riveted  upon  the  picture  it  was  perfectly  natural 
that  you  should  fall  into  a  dreamy  state  in  which  the 


156  IONIA. 

suggestions  of  the  music  seemed  to  come  through  the 
eye  instead  of  the  ear." 

"It  was  a  very  beautiful  dream,"  said  I,  "but  that  noble 
song  which  followed  was  the  most  entrancing  music  I 
ever  heard.  I  have  heard  all  the  great  singers  of  Europe 
and  thought  I  knew  all  that  the  human  voice  was  capa 
ble  of,  but  that  song  was  a  new  revelation  to  me.  The 
voice  was  absolutely  perfect  and  unapproachable;  to  lis 
ten  to  it  was  the  most  unalloyed  delight,  and  there  is 
nothing  I  wish  for  so  much  as  to  hear  it  again." 

My  friends  seemed  much  amused  at  my  enthusiasm, 
and  were  all  smiling  except  Leda,  who  blushed  like  a 
rose.  Her  father  said: 

"That  wish  will  not  be  very  difficult  to  gratify  and  per 
haps  no  farther  off  than  this  evening.  What  do  you  say, 
Leda?" 

The  truth  now  dawned  upon  me,  and  I  exclaimed: 
"What,  Leda!  was  it  you  who  sang  so  divinely?  Accept 
my  heartfelt  thanks  and  homage." 

And  kneeling  on  one  knee  I  touched  the  fingers  of  her 
right  hand  with  my  lips,  whereat  they  all  laughed  heart 
ily,  Leda  herself  appearing  as  much  amused  as  the  rest. 
Recovering  her  composure,  she  said: 

"I  am  very  glad,  Alexander,  that  my  singing  gave  you 
so  much  pleasure,  but  there  are  many  who  can  sing  bet 
ter  than  I,  and  that  you  will  find  out  for  yourself  before 
you  have  been  in  lolkos  much  longer." 

"Give  me  leave  to  doubt  that,  Leda;  it  is  your  mod 
esty  and  not  your  judgment  that  speaks.  Besides,  what 
you  say  is  impossible,  for  your  singing  was  absolutely 
perfect,  and  could  not  be  excelled;  indeed,  it  is  difficult 
for  me  to  believe  that  you  have  an  equal.  I  leave  the 
question  to  your  father." 
Seeing  that  I  looked  to  him  for  an  answer,  Jason  said: 


A  DAY  OF  REST.  157 

"Perhaps  none  of  us  here  are  in  a  position  to  judge 
this  matter  impartially.  There  is  no  one  whose  singing 
I  like  so  well  as  Leda's,  but  that  may  be  because  she  is 
my  daughter,  and  there  are  many  others  whom  I  think 
you  will  find  superior  to  the  professional  vocalists  of 
Europe." 

"And  have  you  no  professional  singers  here?" 

"No,  we  have  no  need  for  them.  Those  amongst  us 
who  have  the  talent  are  glad  to  exercise  it  without  fee  or 
reward,  and  they  would  consider  it  beneath  them  to  ap 
pear  on  a  public  stage  to  be  stared  at  by  an  audience 
while  they  sang." 

"And  to  what  do  you  attribute  the  immense  superior 
ity  of  your  people  in  this  respect?" 

"In  the  first  place  to  the  perfect  health  which  they 
enjoy  from  the  day  of  their  birth,  whereby  the  vocal 
organs  are  always  in  the  best  condition  and  capable  of 
the  highest  training.  In  the  second  place  it  is  partly  due 
to  the  purity  of  our  atmosphere,  which  is  free  not  only 
from  excess  of  moisture,  but  also  from  dust  and  smoke. 

"A  third  reason  for  the  excellence  of  our  musicians  is 
found  in  our  system  of  education,  which  provides,  not  a 
uniform  training  for  all  scholars,  except  as  regards  the 
minor  elements  of  learning,  but  rather  a  development  to 
the  highest  degree  of  the  particular  talents  which  each 
child  possesses.  It  is  the  business  of  the  teachers  to 
find  out  what  those  talents  are,  and  to  see  that  every 
opportunity  is  provided  for  their  cultivation,  without 
neglecting  such  general  instruction  as  is  fitted  to  produce 
intelligent,  well-informed  men  and  women.  In  this  way 
every  kind  of  natural  ability  is  developed  to  the  utmost 
extent,  and  there  is  little  chance  for  any  of  our  people 
to  go  through  life  without  finding  their  true  vocation, 


158  IONIA. 

and  the  precious  years  of  youth  are  not  wasted  in  studies 
for  which  the  pupil  is  not  naturally  fitted." 

"Then  what  you  have  said  holds  good  doubtless  in  re 
gard  to  painting,  sculpture,  architecture,  and  all  the  me 
chanical  arts,  as  well  as  music." 

"Most  certainly,  for  with  us  education  covers  the 
whole  field  of  human  activity,  and  is  not  supposed  to  be 
completed  until  the  pupil  is  thoroughly  trained  to  play 
his  part  in  life  in  the  sphere  to  which  he  is  best  adapted." 

"Fortunate  youth,"  said  I,  "to  be  born  in  such  a  coun 
try.  The  more  I  learn  of  your  institutions,  the  more 
barbarous  do  those  of  my  own  country  appear  by  com 
parison,  but  I  cannot  hope  to  understand  what  is  going 
on  around  me  here  until  I  become  more  thoroughly  ac 
quainted  with  your  language.  I  presume  you  can  rec 
ommend  me  to  a  teacher?" 

"We  must  think  about  that,"  said  Jason. 

"I  would  make  a  suggestion  to  our  friend,"  said  Dion, 
"and  that  is  that  he  should  spend  some  of  his  time  on  the 
public  carriages  of  the  city,  where  he  will  hear  nothing 
but  Greek  spoken,  and  thus  be  learning  the  language 
unconsciously.  Most  of  the  drivers  can  speak  either 
English  or  French  and  would  be  glad  to  give  him  all  the 
assistance  in  their  power.  I  know  one,  for  instance, 
whose  French  is  perfect,  and  who  will  be  glad  of  the  op 
portunity  of  learning  English,  and  I  shall  be  glad  to  in 
troduce  you  to  him.  He  will  take  it  as  a  compliment, 
and  you  will  find  him  a  very  intelligent,  agreeable  com 
panion — what  do  you  think  of  it?" 

"I  think  it  is  an  excellent  plan,  and  I  shall  be  delighted 
to  give  it  a  trial.  But  I  must  make  it  my  first  business 
to-morrow  to  change  some  English  gold  for  the  currency 
of  the  country,  so  that  I  may  be  able  to  pay  my  way." 

"You  can  do  that,  of  course,  at  any  time,  but  you  may 


A  DAY  OF  REST.  159 

not  have  any  opportunity  of  spending  money  for  some 
time.  You  must  be  careful  not  to  offer  any  to  my  friend 
the  driver,  for  that  would  hurt  his  feelings  very  much. 
It  will  be  a  course  of  mutual  instruction,  with  advantages 
on  both  sides,  and  no  financial  obligation  on  either." 

"But  at  least  I  must  have  money  to  pay  the  fares  on 
the  omnibus  or  car  or  whatever  you  call  it." 

At  this  Dion  looked  a  little  puzzled,  and  his  father 
hastened  to  explain. 

"There  is  no  charge  for  riding  in  the  public  convey 
ances  of  the  city.  All  transportation  of  passengers  with 
in  the  city  limits  is  done  at  the  cost  of  the  municipality." 

"That  seems  strange,  but  it  must  be  very  pleasant  for 
the  people  who  ride,  although  it  must  be  an  enormous 
expense  to  the  city." 

"On  the  contrary,  it  is  the  most  economical  plan.  The 
people  have  to  pay  the  cost  in  any  case,  and  when  it  is 
done  at  the  public  charge  all  the  expense  of  collecting 
fares  and  keeping  account  of  them  is  avoided.  But  that 
is  only  one  of  many  things  which  the  city  provides  for — 
heat,  water  and  lighting  are  all  furnished  without 
charge." 

"But  surely  the  taxes  must  be  enormous  to  cover  all 
these  expenses." 

"No  indeed,  they  are  very  light  and  consist  only 
of  the  small  annual  rent  paid  for  ground  occupied.  All 
the  land  covered  by  the  city  is  owned  by  the  municipal 
ity,  or  what  is  the  same  thing,  the  city  has  a  perpetual 
lease  of  it  on  payment  of  a  moderate  rent  to  the  govern 
ment,  and  thus  all  increase  in  the  value  of  the  land  is 
enjoyed  by  the  people  at  large  instead  of  going  into  the 
pockets  of  speculators.  This  house  is  mine,  but  not  the 
ground  on  which  it  stands;  for  that  I  pay  a  fair,  but 
very  moderate  rent,  which  represents  all  my  share  of  the 


ICO  IONIA. 

expense  of  the  municipality.  In  this  way  the  city  is  in 
receipt  of  an  enormous  revenue,  which  it  finds  some  dif 
ficulty  in  spending,  but  which  is  raised  without  injustice 
or  inequality,  and  at  very  little  expense  for  collection." 

"I  find,"  said  I,  "that  you  manage  everything  better 
than  we  do,  and  I  feel  myself  like  a  new-born  child  in  a 
world  in  which  he  has  everything  to  learn." 

But  at  this  point  my  education  was  interrupted  by  a 
summons  to  dinner,  and  it  was  not  till  some  time  after 
wards  that  I  learned  the  history  of  the  single  tax  system 
in  Ionia.  In  the  evening  of  that  day  I  enjoyed  the  first 
of  a  series  of  concerts  by  the  members  and  friends  of  the 
Delphion  family,  which  I  am  never  likely  to  forget.  On 
that  occasion  there  were  present  besides  the  family  only 
three  visitors,  Leonidas  and  his  sister  Daphne,  and  a 
gentleman  of  the  name  of  Theseus,  music  master  and 
composer.  He  had  taught  Leda  all  she  knew  of  music 
and  singing;  he  was  professor  of  music  in  the  univer 
sity,  and  conductor  at  the  temple  of  music  and  composer 
of  several  of  the  magnificent  pieces  I  had  heard  per 
formed  there  in  the  morning.  He  was  tall  and  thin,  with 
white  hair  and  beard,  a  high  forehead  and  piercing  black 
eyes,  in  which  the  fire  of  genius  burned  with  unmistak 
able  lustre.  The  music  room,  which  I  had  not  seen  be 
fore,  was  on  the  same  floor  as  the  library,  and  similar  in 
size.  It  contained  a  piano  and  an  organ,  instruments  of 
the  violin  order  of  all  sizes,  flutes  and  many  others  which 
were  new  to  me.  The  floor  was  of  dark,  polished  wood, 
and  almost  covered  with  rugs  made  of  the  skins  of  var 
ious  animals  of  the  chase,  amongst  which  were  those  of 
the  lion,  the  leopard  and  the  tiger,  and  others,  including 
one  which  had  belonged  to  a  polar  bear  of  the  largest 
size. 

While  the  tuning  of  instruments  and  other  prelimina- 


A  DAY  OF  REST.  161 

ries  were  going  on,  I  asked  my  host  if  he  had  brought 
these  skins  with  him  from  Europe. 

"No,"  he  replied,  "I  shot  most  of  the  animals  myself. 
Dion  killed  the  tiger  on  whose  skin  your  feet  are,  and 
the  lion,  whose  coat  you  see  under  the  piano,  and  some 
others;  between  us  we  are  responsible  for  the  deaths  of 
all  these  noble  animals,  whose  furs  help  to  furnish  our 
chamber  of  music." 

"But  the  polar  bear,  surely  you  did  not  shoot  that?" 

"Indeed  I  did,"  said  he,  "and  close  by  the  north  pole, 
too.  That  was  many  years  ago,  when  I  was  quite  a 
young  man.  An  expedition  was  sent  from  Ionia  to  the 
pole,  and  we  reached  it,  too,  but  the  dangers  and  diffi 
culties  were  so  great  that  it  has  never  been  repeated. 
Twelve  air-ships  started,  but  only  six  came  back.  The 
winds  were  so  contrary  and  so  violent  that  it  took  us  ten 
days  to  get  there,  instead  of  five,  and  our  provisions  were 
almost  exhausted.  Six  of  the  ships  were  more  or  less 
disabled,  and  we  left  them  there  under  an  immense  cairn 
of  stones,  and  if  ever  your  explorers  reach  the  pole  itself 
they  will  find  its  position  so  marked,  and  if  they  have  the 
curiosity  to  remove  the  stones  they  will  find  the  remains 
of  the  air-ships  with  an  intimation  that  some  Greeks  have 
been  there  before  them,  but  as  we  carefully  avoided  put 
ting  any  date  to  the  document  we  left  sealed  up  near  the 
top  of  the  cairn,  they  may  come  to  the  conclusion  that  it 
has  lain  there  from  the  time  when  Athens  was  in  her 
ancient  glory." 

The  music  master  here  intimated  that  all  was  ready, 
and  requested  Jason  to  play  the  violoncello  part. 

"But  I  was  in  hopes,"  said  Jason,  "that  you  would  al 
low  me  to  assist  Alexander  in  the  part  of  audience.  It 
is  not  often  you  have  such  a  distinguished  listener,  and 
he  might  feel  lonesome  if  I  did  not  stay  and  listen,  too." 
n 


162  IONIA. 

"I  am  in  hopes,"  said  Theseus,  "that  he  will  do  us  the 
greater  honor  of  assisting  either  with  voice  or  instru 
ment." 

"Of  that,"  said  I,  "I  regret  to  say  I  am  quite  incapable. 
I  have  no  musical  ability  or  training,  and  although  that 
very  circumstance  may  render  me  a  poor  critic,  it  will 
not  prevent  me  being  a  most  delighted  listener,  and  that 
must  be  my  part." 

So  Jason  was  excused  for  the  time,  but  by  and  by  his 
services  were  required,  and  except  when  solos  or  duets 
were  being  performed,  I  was  sole  auditor. 

And  never  was  so  rich  a  feast  of  music  served  up  to  a 
king  as  I  enjoyed  that  evening.  Such  wonderful  melo 
dies  and  such  exquisite  blending  of  voice  and  instrument; 
it  was  the  music  of  the  gods.  Leda  sang  for  me  again 
and  again,  and  each  song  seemed  the  most  enchanting 
ever  I  heard.  And  the  other  voices  were  scarcely  less 
wonderful.  Daphne's  rich  contralto,  Dion's  pure  and 
powerful  tenor,  and  Leonidas'  grand  basso  were  each  a 
joy  and  pure  delight  to  hear.  The  lady  Helen  proved 
herself  a  consummate  pianist;  Theseus  played  now  the 
organ  and  now  the  violin  with  the  touch  of  a  master,  and 
the  others  played  each  several  instruments  in  turn,  with 
equal  skill.  For  over  two  hours  they  held  me  spell 
bound,  and  when  the  concert  seemed  to  be  ended  I 
thanked  them  for  the  exquisite  pleasure  they  had  given 
me,  and  said  further:  "Your  music  expresses  the  hap 
piness  which  seems  to  be  a  distinguishing  characteristic 
of  your  life  in  this  fortunate  valley,  and  while  I  feel  as  if 
I  could  enjoy  listening  to  it  for  ever,  and  would  not  wish 
the  character  of  it  changed  in  the  slightest  degree,  I  can 
not  help  remarking  that  there  was  not  one  note  of  pathos 
or  of  tragedy  in  it  all.  You  are  to  be  congratulated  in 
the  absence  of  melancholy  themes  in  your  music,  for 


REQUESTED  DAPHNE  TO  SING  THE  SONG  OF  NIOBE.— Page  163. 


A  DAY  OF  REST.  163 

doubtless  it  means  that  your  lives  are  almost  free  from 
mourning  and  grief." 

"It  is  true,"  replied  Leda,  "that  when  we  sing,  it  is 
natural  for  us  to  use  the  music  of  mirth  and  gladness,  but 
if  you  would  like  to  hear  something  of  an  opposite  char 
acter,  the  master  can  play  you  a  dirge  which  will  almost 
break  your  heart,  and  Daphne  can  sing  you  a  song  fitted 
to  draw  tears  from  a  marble  statue." 

Hearing  this,  Theseus,  who  was  still  at  the  organ, 
played  a  few  bars  of  a  funeral  march,  which  seemed  to 
express  the  grief  of  a  whole  people  prostrated  with  woe, 
but  he  broke  off  short  and  requested  Daphne  to  sing  the 
song  of  Niobe,  which  she  did  with  such  melting  tones 
that  I  was  forced  to  put  my  handkerchief  to  my  eyes  to 
wipe  away  the  tears  which  would  flow  in  spite  of  me.  I 
caught  Leda  smiling  at  me,  but  the  effort  was  too  much 
for  her,  and  she  finished  by  fairly  sobbing  aloud. 

When  the  song  was  finished,  I  said  to  Daphne: 

"You  have  fairly  conquered  us  with  that  beautiful 
song,  so  beautifully  rendered,  and,  yet  I  am  glad  to  ob 
serve,  that  you  had  to  go  back  several  thousand  years 
to  find  a  subject  so  pathetic.  How  fortunate  it  must  be 
to  be  born  amongst  a  people  where  sorrow  is  a  plant  of 
alien  growth." 

"It  is  even  as  you  say,"  said  Daphne;  "few  of  us  have 
any  sorrows  of  our  own,  and  we  have  to  borrow  a  little 
trouble  even  to  make  a  song  of,  but  let  us  not  end  our 
music  on  such  a  melancholy  key.  Theseus,  will  you  not 
dispel  the  sadness  which  we  have  both  helped  to  create?" 

And  the  master  played  the  prelude  to  the  song  of  the 
king,  a  kind  of  anthem  in  praise  of  Timoleon,  in  which 
all  joined;  a  chorus  of  glory  and  triumph,  which  so  car 
ried  me  away,  that  I  could  barely  help  rising  and  shout 
ing  aloud  myself. 


164  IONIA. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 
THE  IONIAN  GAMES. 

The  scene  of  the  national  games  of  Ionia  is  situated  on 
the  southern  shore  of  Lake  Malo,  about  three  miles  be 
low  the  city  of  lolkos.  The  ground  rises  directly  from 
the  water's  edge  in  the  form  of  an  amphitheater,  on  the 
slopes  of  which  a  million  spectators  could  be  accommo 
dated.  In  front  of  this  is  a  space  of  artificially  made 
ground  extending  into  the  lake,  and  bounded  by  wharves 
of  granite.  This  forms  the  arena  on  which  most  of  the 
races  and  other  athletic  sports  take  place.  It  is  nearly 
circular  in  form,  rather  more  than  a  quarter  of  a  mile  in 
diameter,  and  covered  with  a  thick  sod  of  fine  grass, 
which  is  carefully  cropped  and  rolled  and  watered,  so 
that  at  a  distance  it  looks  like  a  carpet  of  green  velvet. 
The  inner  boundary  of  the  arena  is  a  wall  of  marble 
which  curves  from  shore  to  shore,  attaining  a  height  .of 
seven  feet  in  the  center,  and  sloping  down  to  the  points 
where  the  wharves  commence,  which  are  marked  by  two 
statues  in  bronze  representing  Apollo  and  Hercules. 
The  height  of  the  wall  on  the  outside  is  about  two  feet, 
and  all  round  it,  tier  above  tier,  are  placed  the  seats  for 
the  spectators.  These  are  strong,  wooden  benches,  which 
are  stored  away  during  the  year,  and  brought  out  and 
placed  in  order  during  the  week  before  the  games.  They 
are  furnished  with  spikes  which  pierce  the  turf  and  hold 
them  firmly  in  place,  and  are  arranged  so  that  everyone 
has  a  perfect  view  of  the  arena  while  comfortably  seated, 
and  the  spaces  between  the  rows  are  so  ample  that  the 
audience  can  take  their  places  or  disperse  in  a  very  few 


THE  IONIAN  GAMES.  165 

minutes.  The  front  seats  are,  of  course,  the  best,  but  as 
every  one  of  the  spectators  is  provided  with  a  powerful 
field-glass  there  is  no  rush  or  crowding,  and  all  take  the 
lowest  seats  vacant  as  they  arrive,  without  distinction  or 
preference,  except  that  the  front  row  is  reserved  for  the 
Archon  and  his  ministers  and  other  dignitaries,  with  the 
members  of  their  families. 

A  large  proportion  of  the  spectators  are  from  the  coun 
try,  and  of  course  the  hotels  are  filled  at  this  time,  and 
many  find  accommodation  with  friends  or  relatives  resid 
ing  in  the  city,  but  a  vast  number  are  provided  by  the 
government  with  tents,  pitched  like  the  encampment  of  a 
great  army  on  a  table-land  above  the  amphitheater  itself. 

Being  attached  to  the  family  of  a  minister,  I  had  the 
privilege  of  sitting  in  the  front  row,  and  had  the  most 
perfect  view  possible  of  all  the  magnificent  sports,  but 
the  view  of  the  audience  itself  was  to  me  one  of  the  most 
interesting  features  of  the  entertainment.  There  is  al 
ways  something  imposing  in  the  appearance  of  a  great 
multitude  of  people,  and  nowhere  else  had  I  seen  at  one 
time  a  tenth  part  of  the  number  that  were  here  assem 
bled.  But  the  marvel  was  that  every  face  here  was  ra 
diant  with  beauty  and  intelligence,  and  beaming  with  en 
joyment  and  good-will.  Of  all  the  men,  women  and 
children  seated  in  that  amphitheater  there  was  not  one 
that  a  painter  would  not  have  delighted  to  take  for  a 
model,  or  that  could  have  failed  to  rejoice  the  eye  of  a 
sculptor.  I  looked  amongst  them  in  vain  for  a  woman 
who  could  by  the  severest  critic  be  reckoned  as  homely, 
or  a  man  whose  face  was  not  noble  and  attractive,  while 
the  children  were  perfect  models  of  grace  and  beauty. 
All  were  handsomely  and  richly  dressed,  which  of  itself 
was  an  exquisite  charm,  while  their  behavior  was  the 
perfection  of  courtesy  and  good  breeding.  Of  course 


166  IONIA. 

there  were  no  very  young  children  there,  for  it  was  no 
place  for  them,  but  I  saw  numbers  of  school  children  of 
ten  years  of  age  and  upwards,  who  comported  them 
selves  in  such  a  way  as  to  prove  them  perfect  little  ladies 
and  gentlemen. 

The  games  occupy  four  days,  from  Tuesday  to  Friday, 
leaving  Monday  and  Saturday  for  the  arrival  and  depart 
ure  of  visitors.  The  hour  of  commencing  is  ten  o'clock, 
and  the  sports  are  continued  till  three,  with  the  interval 
of  an  hour  at  noon  for  social  intercourse  and  refreshment. 
In  the  evening  all  the  picture  galleries,  museums  and  li 
braries  are  open  and  thronged  with  visitors  from  the 
country,  the  residents  of  the  city  remaining  at  home  on 
these  occasions  to  avoid  over-crowding.  Thus  the  fes 
tival  is  especially  a  season  of  pleasure  to  the  city's  guests, 
but  it  affords  the  most  unbounded  enjoyment  to  all  who 
take  part  in  it,  and  the  exuberance  of  good  spirits  is  so 
infectious  that  I  felt  myself  losing  my  English  indif 
ference  to  all  forms  of  entertainment  and  entering  into 
the  enjoyments  of  the  time  with  the  enthusiasm  of  a 
child. 

The  program  for  the  first  day  consisted  of  running, 
leaping,  throwing  heavy  weights,  wrestling,  etc.,  and 
while  I  do  not  propose  to  quote  any  of  the  records  made, 
lest  they  should  seem  incredible,  I  will  state  that  they 
were  far  in  advance  of  anything  ever  achieved  by  the 
best  of  English  athletes.  The  runners  appeared  to  fly 
over  the  ground  so  that  their  feet  barely  touched  it,  and 
in  leaping,  both  as  to  height  and  distance,  their  feats  were 
such  as  I  should  have  deemed  impossible  if  I  had  not  wit 
nessed  them  with  my  own  eyes.  There  was  a  race  in 
which  the  course  was  a  mile  in  circuit,  with  a  large  num 
ber  of  hurdles  of  a  height  of  six  feet  placed  at  intervals. 
All  these  had  to  be  cleared  at  a  bound,  and  although 


THE  IONIAN  GAMES.  167 

there  were  twenty  competitors,  not  one  of  them  failed  to 
clear  each  hurdle,  and  that  without  any  apparent  effort 
or  the  slightest  relaxation  of  speed.  The  forms  of  the 
young  men  engaging  in  these  races  were  marvelously 
graceful  and  symmetrical,  and  impressed  me  with  an 
idea  of  masculine  beauty  that  was  altogether  new.  I 
could  not  tell  which  to  admire  most,  the  supple  and 
beautifully  moulded  limbs  of  the  runners,  or  the  great 
chests  and  iron  muscles  of  the  wrestlers  and  others  who 
exhibited  feats  of  strength  later  in  the  day.  They  all 
wore  clothing  similar  to  that  worn  by  our  own  athletes, 
but  not  sufficient  to  disguise  the  perfection  of  form  and 
motion  which  the  exercises  called  forth.  Our  friend 
Leonidas,  who  had  been  champion  wrestler  at  the  pre 
vious  festival,  had  some  worthy  successors  in  those  who 
struggled  with  each  other  in  the  arena  that  day,  and 
when  I  saw  their  wonderful  feats  of  strength  and  skill 
my  admiration  for  one  who  had  come  off  winner  in  such 
a  contest  rose  to  a  very  high  pitch.  The  first  day  passed 
very  pleasantly,  and  the  results  of  the  various  contests 
seemed  to  give  general  satisfaction,  but  as  I  was  unac 
quainted  with  any  of  the  competitors  I  felt  no  personal 
interest  in  them,  but  on  the  second  day  both  Dion  and 
Leonidas  were  to  take  part,  which  made  it  much  more 
exciting  for  the  members  of  the  family  whose  guest  I 
was.  Dion  competed  in  the  forenoon  in  a  splendid  row 
ing  race  for  individual  scullers,  but  failed  to  carry  off  the 
prize  after  an  exciting  contest,  in  which  he  came  in  a 
close  second. 

Leonidas  competed  in  the  last  event  of  the  day,  which 
was  a  three-mile  swimming  race.  The  course  was  tri 
angular;  from  the  end  of  the  wharf  enclosing  the  arena 
northeast  to  a  buoy  moored  a  mile  off,  then  west  to  an 
other  buoy  at  the  same  distance,  and  back  to  the  wharf 
again,  making  an  equilateral  triangle,  of  which  the  sides 


168  IONIA. 

were  each  exactly  a  mile  long.  Smaller  buoys  were 
fixed  at  intervals  to  indicate  the  straight  course,  and  in 
the  interior  of  the  triangle  half  a  dozen  skiffs,  each  man 
aged  by  two  men  who  were  accomplished  swimmers  and 
divers,  accompanied  the  competitors  in  case  the  strength 
of  any  of  them  should  fail  and  necessitate  assistance. 
Chairs  were  placed  on  the  wharf  for  the  judges,  and  the 
government  officials  with  their  families,  but  the  majority 
of  the  spectators  retained  their  usual  places,  and  could 
see  the  race  quite  distinctly  by  using  their  field-glasses. 

There  were  thirteen  candidates  for  the  prize,  all  men 
of  splendid  muscular  development,  and  apparently  about 
twenty-five  to  thirty  years  of  age,  all  except  one  young 
fellow,  who  seemed  not  more  than  twenty-two,  but  whose 
long,  clean-cut  limbs,  muscular  thighs  and  well-de 
veloped  biceps  marked  him  as  a  very  formidable  com 
petitor.  I  asked  Leda,  who  sat  next  to  me,  if  she  knew 
the  youngest  of  the  swimmers,  and  she  said  she  did  not, 
but  referred  the  question  to  Dion,  who  occupied  the  seat 
next  her  on  the  other  side.  Dion  said  his  name  was 
Orestes,  that  he  came  from  Thalmon,  and  was  considered 
quite  a  prodigy  amongst  swimmers  in  that  part  of  the 
country.  Meantime  the  competitors  had  taken  their  places 
on  the  end  of  the  wharf  all  ready  for  the  plunge.  They 
were  dressed  in  woolen  attire,  each  having  a  distinctive 
color;  the  arms  were  bare  and  the  legs  also  below  the 
knee,  and  as  their  figures  appeared  outlined  against  the 
lake  they  formed  a  magnificent  group,  which  could  not 
have  been  matched  elsewhere  for  perfect  physical  de 
velopment  and  manly  beauty.  The  signal  for  starting 
was  given  by  the  firing  of  a  gun,  and  the  swimmers 
dived  into  the  deep  water  simultaneously.  When  they 
came  to  the  surface  Orestes  was  leading  by  several  feet, 
and  swimming  at  a  tremendous  rate  of  speed.  Most  of 


THE  IONIAN  GAMES.  169 

the  others  made  great  efforts  to  overtake  him,  but  he 
kept  his  lead,  and  steadily  increased  it.  Such  a  pace  evi 
dently  could  not  be  kept  up  long,  and  it  seemed  as  if 
most  of  the  swimmers  would  be  exhausted  before  the 
first  turning  point  was  reached,  unless  the  speed  were  re 
duced.  Leonidas  was  now  behind  all  the  others,  and  he 
did  not  seem  to  be  making  any  effort  to  get  to  the  front, 
but  swam  steadily  on  his  right  side  with  a  slow  but  pow 
erful  stroke,  evidently  husbanding  his  resources  for  the 
distant  home-stretch.  As  he  was  very  well  known,  and 
was  looked  upon  as  the  champion  of  lolkos,- several  re 
marks  were  made  about  his  lack  of  speed,  and  one  young 
fellow  hazarded  the  assertion  that  he  was  out  of  the  race, 
but  he  was  immediately  corrected  by  an  old  patriarch, 
who  told  him  that  if  the  others  did  not  speedily  relax 
their  efforts  Leonidas  would  be  the  only  one  to  swim 
over  the  course.  All  this,  of  course,  was  said  in  Greek, 
and  I  had  to  listen  attentively  to  make  out  the  meaning 
of  the  words,  but  I  understood,  nevertheless,  and  men 
tally  thanked  the  old  gentleman  for  Leda's  sake,  but  as 
he  was  a  friend  of  the  family  and  knew  that  she  was  be 
trothed  to  Leonidas,  I  had  a  suspicion  that  he  spoke  for 
her  encouragement  as  much  as  from  real  conviction. 
However  that  may  have  been,  the  foremost  swimmers 
soon  began  to  ease  off  a  little,  and  Orestes,  finding  him 
self  a  long  way  in  front,  settled  down  to  a  more  steady 
stroke.  And  now  Leonidas  began  to  forge  ahead,  and  at 
the  end  of  the  first  mile  he  had  passed  about  half  of  the 
competitors.  At  the  end  of  the  second  mile  there  were 
only  two  ahead  of  him,  and  he  speedily  gained  the  second 
place.  At  this  point  a  number  of  those  who  were  far 
thest  behind  gave  up  the  contest  and  climbed  into  the  at 
tendant  boats,  but  some  half  a  dozen  of  them  swam  dog 
gedly  on,  apparently  without  any  hope  of  winning,  but 


170  IONIA. 

either  trusting  to  an  accidental  turn  of  fortune  or  making 
it  a  point  of  honor  to  swim  over  the  entire  course. 
,  The  last  half-mile  was  marked  by  a  white  buoy  with  a 
red  flag,  and  at  this  point  Orestes  still  appeared  to  be 
about  fifty  feet  ahead  of  Leonidas,  but  the  latter  for  the 
first  time  quickening  his  stroke,  gained  upon  him  rap 
idly.  The  young  fellow  now  realized  that  the  race  was 
not  yet  won,  and  began  to  make  the  most  strenuous  ef 
forts  to  retain  his  position,  but  the  length  of  the  course 
and  the  great  exertions  he  had  made  at  the  beginning 
told  on  him  fearfully.  His  strokes  were  rapid  and  ner 
vous,  but  they  had  lost  their  vigor,  and  foot  by  foot  the 
gap  was  closing  up.  I  could  not  help  feeling  sorry  for 
the  young  fellow,  who  doubtless  had  been  counting  on 
an  easy  victory;  it  must  have  been  terribly  exasperating 
to  know  that  this  tireless  pursuer  was  pressing  him  so 
hard  and  the  goal  so  near,  and  that  while  his  own  ener 
gies  were  failing  his  competitor  was  only  now  putting 
forth  his  full  strength.  Leonidas  lay  now  on  his  left 
side,  and  at  every  stroke  of  his  powerful  right  arm  the 
foam  flew  before  his  head,  which  was  buried  in  the  water 
at  every  sweep.  At  length  they  were  side  by  side,  yet 
Orestes  would  not  surrender  without  a  struggle,  and 
putting  forth  all  his  remaining  strength,  he  managed  to 
gain  a  few  inches.  But  the  effort  was  too  much  for  his 
exhausted  condition,  and  with  a  sudden  cry  he  disap 
peared  below  the  surface.  Without  a  moment's  hesita 
tion  Leonidas  dived  after  him,  and  for  many  seconds  that 
seemed  like  minutes,  they  both  remained  under  the  wa 
ter.  Leda  had  risen  from  her  seat,  and  as  the  moments 
passed  and  her  lover  failed  to  appear  her  face  assumed  a 
look  of  horror  and  distress  that  was  most  painful  to  wit 
ness.  I  kept  telling  her  that  there  was  no  cause  for 
alarm,  that  Leonidas  was  so  strong  that  he  could  not  fail 


THE  IONIAN  GAMES.  171 

to  master  the  young  man  even  if  he  struggled,  and  that 
he  would  come  up  in  a  moment  more.  Dion  was  saying 
the  same  things  to  her  in  their  own  tongue  on  the  other 
side,  but  I  doubt  if  she  heard  a  word  spoken  by  either  of 
us.  She  was  as  pale  as  death,  her  mouth  drawn  in 
agony,  and  her  eyes  almost  starting  from  their  sockets 
as  if  they  would  pierce  the  depths  of  the  water  in  search 
of  her  lover.  I  was  on  the  point  of  giving  up  hope  my 
self  when  at  last  a  golden  ripple  broke  the  surface  and 
Leonidas'  close-cut,  curly,  amber  locks  rose  up,  followed 
by  the  darker  head  of  Orestes.  Leonidas  was  swim 
ming  with  his  left  hand  free,  while  with  his  right  he  held 
the  body  of  his  competitor,  both  arms  pinioned  to  his 
sides.  Evidently  there  had  been  a  struggle,  and  it  was 
well  for  our  friend  that  he  had  the  strength  of  a  giant, 
for  without  it  he  could  never  have  reached  the  surface 
alive.  Meanwhile  the  third  swimmer  in  the  race  con 
tinued  calmly  on  the  course,  but  Leonidas  did  not  re 
linquish  his  charge  until  two  of  the  attendant  divers  had 
him  safely  between  them.  He  then  easily  passed  the 
other  man,  who  indeed  made  no  effort  to  win,  evidently 
feeling  that  he  could  not  do  so  honorably  in  the  circum 
stances.  When  Leonidas  reached  the  goal,  the  whole 
multitude  rose  and  cheered  lustily.  The  women  waved 
their  handkerchiefs,  and  the  men  their  hats,  and  the 
cheering  continued  as  long  as  Leonidas  was  in  sight. 
The  sound  had  something  of  the  majesty  of  nature's 
mighty  voices — the  thunder,  or  the  waves  dashing  on  the 
shore  in  a  storm;  it  was  not  so  deafening  as  one  would 
have  expected,  on  account  doubtless  of  the  distance  at 
which  the  great  majority  of  the  individuals  joining  in  it 
were  necessarily  situated,  but  the  vastness  of  multitude 
was  there,  and  it  inspired  a  feeling  akin  to  awe  by  the 
consciousness  of  its  far-reaching  volume.  Few  indeed 


172  IONIA. 

are  the  men  who  have  been  honored  with  such  a  spon 
taneous  and  magnificent  triumph,  and  most  would  have 
had  their  heads  turned  by  it,  but  Leonidas  walked 
straight  to  his  tent  apparently  unconscious  that  all  this 
uproar  was  being  made  on  his  account.  He  was  not  al 
lowed  to  enter  it  at  once,  however,  for  several  of  the 
managers  of  the  games  interposed  and  insisted  on  his 
acknowledging  the  ovation.  He  turned  around,  appar 
ently  with  great  reluctance,  walked  a  few  steps  forward, 
bowed  gracefully  to  the  archon,  who  was  standing  in  his 
place  and  clapping  his  hands  enthusiastically,  another 
bow  to  the  people  on  the  right  and  one  to  the  left,  and 
then  with  quick  strides  he  disappeared  through  the  door 
of  his  tent. 

Meantime  Leda  alone  of  that  great  assembly  had  re 
sumed  her  seat,  her  handkerchief  pressed  to  her  eyes, 
which  rained  tears  of  joy.  I  expected  to  see  her  faint 
when  the  cruel  suspense  of  that  terrible  half  minute  was 
over,  but  fainting  is  an  accomplishment  in  which  the 
ladies  of  Ionia  are  not  very  proficient.  She  had  remained 
standing  until  Leonidas  was  actually  out  of  the  water, 
and  then  sank  into  her  seat  and  wept  silently  until  the 
cheering  subsided.  She  then  calmed  herself  with  a  great 
effort  in  order  to  avoid  attracting  attention,  but  remain 
ing  very  quiet,  and  dared  not  trust  herself  to  speak  all 
the  way  home.  When  the  family  met  at  the  dinner  table 
she  was  quite  herself  again. 

That  was  a  very  happy  evening  at  the  Delphion's. 
Leonidas  and  Daphne,  of  course,  were  there;  Dion's 
failure  was  entirely  forgotten,  and  all  the  ladies  seemed 
bent  on  petting  the  hero  of  the  day.  Leonidas  persisted 
in  talking  on  every  subject  but  the  one  thai  was  upper 
most  in  their  minds.  Being  forced  at  last  to  say  some- 


THE  IONIAN  GAMES.  173 

thing  about  it,  he  declared  that  it  was  one  of  the  most  un 
pleasant  experiences  of  his  life. 

"You  must  have  had  a  dreadful  struggle  with  Or 
estes  below  the  water,"  said  the  lady  Helen;  "we  began 
to  think  you  never  would  come  up." 

"Oh,  that  was  nothing,"  said  Leonidas;  "I  had  some 
trouble  with  him,  for  he  did  not  know  what  he  was  doing, 
and  tried  to  wrap  all  his  limbs  around  me  as  soon  as  I 
grasped  him  by  the  arm.  I  soon  had  both  arms  fast,  but 
it  took  me  a  little  longer  to  free  myself  from  the  clutch  of 
his  legs,  and  all  this  time  we  were  sinking  till  we  actu 
ally  touched  the  bottom.  But  you  know  I  was  stronger 
than  he,  and  never  had  the  slightest  doubt  about  the 
result,  although  I  had  been  exerting  myself  considerably 
and  was  very  glad  to  be  able  to  breathe  again  when  we 
came  up.  Yet  I  have  been  through  something  of  the 
kind  before  and  did  not  think  much  of  it,  but  the  idea 
of  all  that  crowd  shouting  themselves  hoarse  over  it  and 
my  being  compelled  to  acknowledge  their  plaudits,  as  if 
I  had  done  something  great!  I  feel  ashamed  when  I 
think  of  it." 

"But  you  know,"  said  my  hostess,  "the  voice  of  the 
people  is  the  voice- of  God,  and  it  never  spoke  more  un 
mistakably  than  it  did  to-day.  And  I  am  sure  there  are 
many  people  speaking  of  it  in  lolkos  to-night." 

"Well,  it  shall  riot  Ij  so  here  if  I  can  help  it,  and  I'll 
tell  you  what  will  be  done  to  prevent  it.  Since  you  ladies 
appear  to  think  I  am  deserving  of  so  much  honor,  you 
cannot  refuse  to  grant  me  a  boon  if  I  ask  it,  can  you?" 

"What  is  it?"  they  all  asked  in  chorus. 

"That  you  four  ladies  shall  give  us  a  concert  of  vocal 
and  instrumental  music,  and  Jason  and  Alexander  and 
Dion  and  I  shall  be  the  audience,  and  you  must  entertain 
us  until  supper  time." 


174  IONIA. 

This  modest  request  could  not  be  denied,  and  all  the 
four  exerted  themselves  to  furnish'  music  worthy  of  the 
occasion.  But  Leonidas  only  partially  succeeded  in 
serving  his  purpose  of  diverting  attention  from  his  gal 
lant  feat,  for  the  ladies  found  a  great  many  pieces  in 
honor  of  heroes  of  the  past  which  they  made  apply  to 
him  by  turning  their  eyes  upon  him  while  they  sang,  and 
although  he  affected  not  to  see  it  he  could  not  help  blush 
ing  several  times,  greatly  to  our  amusement.  They  re 
served  their  most  effective  piece  to  the  last.  It  was  sup 
posed  to  be  a  chorus  of  Spartan  maidens,  sung  in  praise 
of  the  immortal  three  hundred  of  Thermopylae,  and  as 
the  name  of  Leonidas  occurred  in  it  again  and  again,  and 
was  held  up  as  the  greatest  name  amongst  mortals,  we 
felt  that  the  ladies  had  gained  their  point,  as  they  always 
do,  and  their  crowning  effort  was  rewarded  with  much 
applause  and  laughter.  Leonidas  himself  laughed  with 
the  rest,  but  said  he  never  liked  that  piece,  for  the  words 
were  positively  silly,  and  the  music  only  second  rate. 

The  trials  of  speed  between  various  classes  of  air-ships 
came  off  on  the  following  day.  The  race  of  the  dragons 
was  a  magnificent  spectacle.  These  are  the  largest  class 
of  aerial  vessels,  and  one  condition  of  the  race  was  that 
each  should  carry  at  least  a  hundred  men  including  the 
crew.  Each  city  and  district  was  represented,  and  the 
ships  were  all  magnificently  painted  and  decorated,  but 
that  of  the  mining  town  of  Laureion  was  the  most  gor 
geous,  literally  blazing  with  crimson  and  gold.  It  was 
understood  that  the  miners  were  determined  to  wrest  the 
prize  from  the  capital,  whose  ships  had  carried  off  the 
honors  for  five  successive  seasons.  The  people  of  Lau 
reion  are  very  wealthy,  and  very  proud  of  their  city,  and 
they  had  spared  no  expense  in  preparing  for  this  contest. 
They  had  purchased  ships  from  three  or  four  of  the  most 


THE  IONIAN  GAMES.  175 

celebrated  builders  and  had  subjected  them  to  repeated 
tests  in  their  own  neighborhood,  in  order  to  find  out 
which  was  the  most  speedy  and  trustworthy.  The  one 
they  finally  selected  was  said  to  be  the  fastest  that  had 
ever  been  built,  but  as  much  depends  upon  the  crew  as 
upon  the  vessel,  and  there  was  considerable  difference  of 
opinion  as  to  whether  they  would  be  able  to  carry  off  the 
prize  from  the  skillful  navigators  of  lolkos. 

Directly  north  across  the  lake,  at  a  distance  of  twelve 
miles  from  the  race  grounds,  there  is  a  snow-covered 
mountain  peak,  known  as  Parnassus,  and  the  course  for 
the  dragons  was  from  the  tableland  back  of  the  amphi 
theater  straight  to  the  peak,  around  it  from  the  east  side, 
and  back  again.  We  could  not  see  the  vessels  as  they 
started,  but  a  few  seconds  would  bring  them  all  into  view 
and  then  we  should  have  them  all  clearly  in  sight  with 
our  field-glasses  over  the  whole  course,  except  for  the 
short  time  required  to  go  behind  the  mountain.  Pre 
cisely  at  the  hour  appointed  the  signal  gun  was  fired,  and 
in  an  incredibly  short  time  we  saw  fifteen  magnificent 
vessels  flying  over  our  heads  and  sailing  grandly  over 
the  lake.  The  wind  was  blowing  straight  towards  Par 
nassus  ;  where  we  sat  it  was  merely  a  gentle  zephyr,  and 
it  did  not  seem  as  if  it  could  make  much  difference  one 
way  or  the  other,  but  as  the  vessels  rose  higher  they 
seemed  to  catch  a  stronger  breeze,  for  those  which  at 
tained  the  greatest  height  were  seen  to  be  making  the 
greatest  speed.  The  men  of  Laureion  and  those  of  lolkos 
were  the  first  to  take  advantage  of  this  circumstance,  and 
were  well  ahead  of  the  rest,  but  the  others  soon  rose  to 
the  same  level  and  followed  the  leaders  in  a  row,  looking 
to  the  naked  eye  like  a  flock  of  wild  geese  sailing  away  to 
their  northern  haunts  in  triangular  order.  The  lines 
were  soon  broken,  however,  for  the  Laureion  crew  took 


176  IONIA. 

their  vessel  higher  yet,  and  it  became  impossible  to  tell 
which  was  first,  but  the  lolkos  rounded  the  mountain 
first,  which  was  the  signal  for  a  cheer  from  the  people  of 
the  capital,  and  still  another  vessel  had  disappeared  be 
hind  the  mountain  before  the  Laureion  reached  it.  The 
miners  gained  the  peak  at  last,  and  being  very  near  the 
top  made  the  turn  in  a  much  shorter  time  than  the  others. 
And  now  they  took  a  widely  different  course  from  the 
rest,  for  while  the  lolkos  kept  as  low  as  possible  in  order 
to  meet  with  the  minimum  resistance  from  the  wind,  the 
Laureion  soared  higher  still,  evidently  seeking  a  counter- 
current  of  air,  and  they  apparently  found  what  they  were 
seeking,  for  they  soon  began  to  move  towards  us  with 
enormous  speed.  When  the  lolkos  reached  the  opposite 
shore  it  seemed  to  be  almost  touching  the  water  and 
skimmed  over  the  surface  like  a  duck.  I  thought  the 
race  was  theirs,  till  suddenly  the  Laureion  swooped  down 
from  the  sky  with  such  enormous  velocity  that  I  feared 
to  see  them  fall  into  the  lake,  but  the  crew  knew  their 
business  too  well  for  that.  Making  a  beautiful  curve, 
they  reached  the  level  of  the  table  land,  shot  over  our 
heads  like  a  cannon  ball,  and  touched  ground  fifteen  sec 
onds  ahead  of  their  nearest  opponents.  The  whole  time 
of  the  race  was  about  fourteen  minutes,  which  was  con 
sidered  very  fast  for  such  large  vessels.  The  last  race  of 
the  day  was  that  for  the  Skylarks,  carrying  only  one  man, 
and  it  was  especially  interesting  to  us  because  Dion  Del- 
phion  was  one  of  the  competitors,  and  he  had  not  made 
any  secret  of  the  fact  that  he  had  set  his  mind  much  more 
strongly  upon  winning  this  than  the  rowing  race  in 
which  he  took  part.  The  course  was  the  same  as  for  the 
larger  vessels,  with  this  difference,  that  instead  of  going 
round  the  mountain  they  were  required  to  bring  back 
some  of  the  snow  from  its  sides,  scooping  it  up  in  a  vessel 


THE  IONIAN  GAMES.  177 

of  metal  about  the  size  of  a  two-quart  measure,  with  a 
long  chain  attached,  which  was  furnished  to  each  com 
petitor  before  starting. 

When  the  signal  gun  was  fired  most  of  the  little  ves 
sels  sought  to  attain  the  level  of  the  stronger  breezes  by 
mounting  upward  perpendicularly  before  directing  their 
vessels  forward,  but  Dion  and  one  or  two  others  adopted 
a  more  slanting  course,  and  this  proved  the  wisest,  for 
they  reached  the  mountain  before  the  others.  Dion's 
vessel  was  of  a  pale,  delicate  green,  and  as  all  the  others 
were  of  different  colors,  we  were  able  to  follow  it  all  the 
way  with  our  powerful  glasses,  although  even  with  these 
it  appeared  in  the  distance  no  larger  than  a  bee.  He 
went  much  higher  than  any  of  the  other  aeronauts,  who 
steered  mostly  for  the  lowest  point  of  the  snow-line,  hop 
ing  thereby  to  save  half  a  mile  or  so  of  the  distance.  All 
at  once  I  lost  sight  of  the  little  green  speck  and  turned  to 
ask  Leda  if  she  still  had  it  in  view,  but  I  saw  that  she,  too, 
had  lowered  her  glass. 

"Where  has  he  gone  to?"  I  asked. 

"He  has  gone  behind  the  mountain,"  she  said. 

"And  why  should  he  do  that?" 

"I  am  not  sure,"  she  said,  "but  let  us  watch  for  his  re 
appearance." 

I  put  up  my  glass  again,  and  in  a  minute  more  the 
green  point  reappeared,  headed  straight  for  the  camp. 

Meantime  all  the  other  skylarks  had  arrived  at  the 
mountain,  and  we  could  see  them  skimming  back  and 
forth  over  the  snow,  evidently  trying  in  vain  to  fill  their 
pitchers.  A  full  minute  passed  from  the  time  of  Dion's 
reappearance  before  the  first  of  the  others  started  in  pur 
suit,  and  by  that  time  he  must  have  been  fully  half  a  mile 
ahead,  after  allowing  for  the  greater  distance  he  had  to 
travel.  None  of  them  could  make  up  that  lead,  and  he 

12 


178  IONIA. 

landed  a  full  half  minute  ahead  of  the  next  man,  and  re 
ceived  hearty  cheers  for  his  decisive  victory.  We  could 
not  quite  understand  how  he  had  managed  so  completely 
to  out-manoeuver  all  his  competitors,  but  he  made  it 
very  clear  to  us  later  in  the  day. 

He  reminded  us  that  we  had  enjoyed  a  succession  of 
sunny,  cloudless  days  for  a  week  or  more,  and  said  he  felt 
sure  that  the  snow  on  the  southern  slope  of  the  mountain 
exposed  to  the  full  blaze  of  the  sun  must  have  been  partly 
melted  and  frozen  many  times,  and  the  surface  must  be 
covered  with  a  solid  coating  of  ice,  so  that  if  there  was 
any  loose  snow  anywhere  it  must  be  on  the  northern  side 
under  the  shadow  of  some  high  rock.  He  found  such  a 
spot  without  difficulty  and  filled  his  pitcher  at  the  first 
scoop,  whereas  the  others  were  obliged  to  land  and  fill 
theirs  by  hand,  after  vainly  trying  to  scoop  up  the  snow 
on  the  wing.  The  conditions  of  the  race  were  not  an 
nounced  till  just  before  the  start,  so  there  was  no  oppor 
tunity  of  a  previous  examination  of  the  mountain,  and 
Dion  was  allowed  to  have  won  solely  by  his  superior 
skill  and  judgment. 

The  fourth  and  last  day  of  the  race  was  taken  up  by  the 
competition  of  orchestral  societies  from  different  parts  of 
the  country,  and  from  the  cities.  There  was  no  limit  to 
the  number  of  orchestras  from  each  place,  and  the  capi 
tal  was  represented  by  no  less  than  five,  Thalmon  by  two 
and  Laureion  by  two,  the  total  number  competing  being 
twenty-five.  The  audience  was  much  smaller  than  on 
the  previous  days,  for  many  of  the  visitors  who  were  not 
devoted  to  music  spent  the  day  in  the  art  galleries,  which 
were  crowded  from  morning  till  night.  This  enabled 
those  who  were  left  to  arrange  themselves  in  more  com 
pact  space  and  hear  the  music  to  greater  advantage.  I 
never  saw  an  audience  so  attentive  or  so  thoroughly  de- 


THE  IONIAN  GAMES.  179 

lighted  with  what  they  heard,  and  the  music  and  the  ren 
dering  of  it  were  such  as  I  am  very  sure  has  never  been 
heard  in  any  other  part  of  the  world.  I  think  I  enjoyed 
this  last  day  most  of  all,  and  that  is  saying  much,  for  the 
whole  festival  had  been  a  season  of  unalloyed  pleasure. 

But  the  crowning  spectacle  was  still  to  come:  in  the 
ceremony  of  awarding  the  prizes.  This  took  place  on 
the  evening  of  the  fourth  day. 

An  hour  after  sunset  was  the  time  appointed,  and  the 
audience  was  greater  than  ever,  so  that  almost  every  seat 
was  occupied.  During  the  afternoon  a  great  change  had 
been  accomplished  in  the  arena.  Between  the  center  of 
it  and  the  middle  of  the  great  wall,  a  platform  had  been 
erected  and  covered  with  a  handsome  carpet.  On  each 
side  were  seats  for  about  a  hundred  persons,  arranged  in 
a  semi-circle,  in  rows  rising  upwards  from  the  floor,  all 
richly  upholstered,  and  having  a  background  of  flowers 
and  palms  and  other  tropical  plants.  On  the  right  side 
sat  the  victors  in  the  different  games,  who  were  to  be 
crowned  with  wreaths  of  wild  cherry.  On  the  other  side 
were  the  archon  and  the  ministers  of  state,  the  city  coun 
cillors  and  the  representatives  of  any  of  the  other  city  or 
district  governments  who  happened  to  be  present.  In 
front  of  these  sat  thirteen  beautiful  maidens,  and  in  the 
center  of  the  row  Daphne  Van  Tromp,  in  a  graceful 
dress  of  white  silk,  while  the  others,  who  were  all  bru 
nettes,  wore  dresses  of  similar  make  and  material  in  deli 
cate  shades  of  blue,  pink,  primrose,  etc.  On  Daphne's 
right  sat  Leda,  and  on  the  left  Eurydice,  all  the  rest  be 
ing  friends  and  former  fellow-students  chosen  to  sup 
port  her  in  the  ceremony  of  crowning  the  victors.  It  is 
the  custom  for  the  archon  to  select  some  young  lady 
from  amongst  the  families  of  his  friends  for  this  honora 
ble  service,  and  she  has  the  selection  of  the  twelve  who 


180  IONIA. 

are  to  occupy  the  seats  of  honor  by  her  side.  Leda  had 
been  the  crown-giver  at  the  previous  festival,  and  then 
Daphne  had  sat  at  her  right  side;  next  year  some  other 
maiden  would  occupy  the  place  of  honor,  for  the  same 
one  is  never  chosen  twice  by  the  archon.  The  crown- 
giver  is  free  to  select  whom  she  will  to  support  her,  but 
they  must  be  unmarried,  and  not  over  twenty-five  years 
old' 

When  all  had  taken  their  places  the  lights  were  turned 
out  over  the  amphitheater,  which  brought  into  brilliant 
relief  the  distinguished  companies  on  both  sides  of  the 
platform,  on  whom  a  flood  of  light  was  poured  from 
lamps  placed  a  hundred  feet  above  them,  and  shaded  so 
that  their  direct  rays  could  not  reach  the  audience.  The 
handsome,  bearded  seniors  on  the  one  side,  with  the  row 
of  lovely  maidens  in  front,  in  contrast  with  the  lithe  fig 
ures  of  the  young  athletes  opposite,  who  were  dressed  in 
a  uniform  of  blue  and  white  donned  for  the  occasion,  and 
well  calculated  to  display  their  fine  proportions,  their 
uncovered  heads  and  clear-cut  faces  showing  to  great  ad 
vantage  in  the  brilliant  electric  light, — all  this  formed  a 
picture  of  human  beauty  which  of  itself  was  a  feast  for  the 
eyes  of  that  artistically  educated  assembly,  and  they 
showed  their  appreciation  of  it  by  cheers  and  applause, 
which  overpowered  the  music  of  the  orchestra  below. 
There  were  two  bands  of  music  placed  respectively  on  the 
hither  and  further  sides  of  the  platform ;  one  of  these  was 
a  local  orchestra,  and  the  other  was  the  one  which  was 
victorious  in  the  contest  of  the  early  part  of  the  day. 
These  played  alternately  during  the  whole  of  the  crown 
ing  ceremony,  and  although  at  any  other  time  their 
splendid  performances  would  have  been  listened  to  with 
the  closest  attention,  the  cheers  which  greeted  each  of  the 
victors  as  he  came  forward  to  be  crowned,  prevented  us 


THE  IONIAN  GAMES.  181 

from  hearing  their  strains,  except  only  at  short  intervals. 
It  being  impossible  to  announce  the  names  of  the 
prize-winners  vocally  so  as  to  be  heard  by  so  many  peo 
ple,  this  was  not  attempted.  The  names  of  each  and  the 
titles  of  the  races  they  had  won  were  displayed  in  letters 
of  gold  by  some  electrical  device  on  the  dark  background 
beyond  the  platform.  As  each  name  appeared  the  for 
tunate  youth  rose  from  his  place,  crossed  the  platform, 
and  knelt  on  a  cushion  in  front  of  the  crown-giver  of  the 
year,  and  Daphne,  standing  up  and  receiving  the  wreath 
from  the  hands  of  the  lady  next  her,  placed  it  on  his 
head.  The  victor  then  rose,  and  with  a  graceful  bow,  re 
turned  to  his  place,  to  be  succeeded  by  the  next,  whose 
name  appeared  after  a  moment's  interval  on  the  invisible 
canvas  between  us  and  the  lake.  The  prizes  for  those 
contests  in  which  numbers  took  part,  such  as  that  of  the 
dragons  and  the  rowing  races  of  eight  oars,  were  not 
wreaths,  and  the  victors  were  not  crowned  like  the  indi 
vidual  winners.  They  were  rewarded  by  the  presenta 
tion  of  a  trophy  of  gold  of  great  value  and  artistic  beauty, 
of  which  they  were  allowed  to  retain  possession  for  the 
year,  or  until  it  was  wrested  from  them  by  a  different 
crew.  There  were  seven  of  these  splendid  works  of  art, 
and  they  were  displayed  on  a  table  covered  by  a  snow- 
white  cloth  which  stood  on  the  platform  in  front  of  the 
ladies,  on  the  right,  or  the  side  nearest  the  audience,  the 
wreaths  being  placed  on  a  similar  table  on  the  left.  Both 
tables  were  profusely  decorated  with  flowers.  The  tro 
phies  were  too  heavy  for  a  woman's  strength  to  lift,  so 
when  the  races  to  which  they  belonged  were  called,  they 
were  lifted  by  two  stalwart  attendants  and  placed  on  the 
cushion  in  front  of  Daphne.  She  then  placed  her  hands 
upon  the  trophy,  the  captain  of  the  winning  crew  did  the 
same,  and  thus  received  possession.  It  was  then  re- 


182  IONIA. 

placed  on  the  table  to  be  taken  away  later  on  by  its  tem 
porary  owners. 

Each  victor,  as  he  appeared,  was  greeted  with  ap 
plause  by  the  audience,  which  he  acknowledged  with  a 
bow  as  he  crossed  the  platform  in  returning.  Some  were 
greater  favorites  than  others,  and  were  received  with 
louder  cheering,  but  when  it  came  Leonidas'  turn  to  be 
crowned,  the  audience,  remembering  his  heroic  rescue  of 
Orestes,  treated  him  to  a  repetition  of  the  ovation  given 
him  on  the  day  before,  which  so  mortified  him  that  he 
privately  resolved  never  to  take  any  active  part  in  the 
games  in  future. 

Dion  was  the  last  of  the  victors  to  be  crowned,  and  he 
also  received  an  unusual  amount  of  applause,  partly  be 
cause  he  was  a  favorite  and  partly,  no  doubt,  because  he 
was  the  last.  As  soon  as  he  had  returned  to  his  place  a 
signal  gun  was  fired,  and  in  a  moment  a  dozen  of  the 
largest  air-ships  or  dragons  appeared  in  view,  brilliantly 
lighted  from  stem  to  stern.  They  were  hovering  over 
the  lake  near  the  shore,  and  as  all  had  been  dark  in  that 
quarter  but  a  moment  before,  it  seemed  as  if  they  were 
phantom  ships  created  by  some  stroke  of  magic  art. 
And  now  they  commenced  a  series  of  beautiful  evolu 
tions,  wheeling  in  columns  and  in  line,  crossing  each 
other's  bows  and  sailing  over  and  under  each  other  with 
the  perfect  order  and  precision  of  an  army  corps  going 
through  their  drill.  This  splendid  spectacle  continued 
for  about  fifteen  minutes,  and  then  they  separated  into 
two  squadrons  and  went  through  the  form  of  a  sham-bat 
tle,  bombarding  each  other  with  shells  and  rockets  so  that 
the  air  was  like  a  tornado  of  fire,  and  I  marveled  that  the 
vessels  were  not  injured,  till  it  was  explained  to  me  that 
every  part  of  their  exterior  was  fire-proof,  so  that  the 
bursting  of  a  shell  or  a  rocket  in  contact  with  any  part 


TIMOLEON,  THE  LIBERATOR.  183 

of  them  was  as  harmless  as  so  much  water.  These  mis 
siles,  harmless  though  they  were,  exploded  with  loud 
detonations,  and  it  was  difficult  to  realize  that  we  were 
not  witnessing  a  terrific  and  destructive  action  in  aerial 
warfare.  The  firing  of  a  great  gun  on  the  shore  gave  the 
signal  for  the  turmoil  to  cease,  and  the  twelve  vessels 
then  formed  a  hollow  square,  above  the  water's  edge. 

The  festival  was  now  over,  but  the  great  audience  re 
mained  seated  until  the  archon  and  the  other  prominent 
personages  had  taken  their  departure.  Daphne  and  her 
twelve  attendants  moved  off  first,  escorted  by  the  victors, 
wearing  their  wreaths.  Minos  and  the  high  officials  who 
had  occupied  the  seats  of  honor  followed  next  with  the 
members  of  their  families,  from  the  front  row  of  seats 
amongst  the  audience.  Two  barges  carried  all  these 
persons,  of  whom  I  had  the  privilege  of  being  one,  two 
more  held  the  bands  of  music,  and  the  fleet  of  four  moved 
off  in  stately  procession,  escorted  by  the  twelve  air-ships 
of  war  formed  in  a  square  above  us,  so  that  we  occupied 
the  space  beneath  its  center.  This  formation  was  main 
tained  all  the  way  to  the  city,  and  the  air  vessels  kept  up 
a  continual  discharge  of  rockets  on  the  outside  of  the 
square  so  that  we  seemed  to  be  moving  between  walls  of 
fire.  Carriages  were  in  waiting  at  the  landing-place  to 
convey  us  all  to  our  homes,  and  the  aerial  fleet  sailed 
away  over  the  lake  with  a  thunderous  parting  salute. 


CHAPTER  IX. 
TIMOLEON,  THE  LIBERATOR. 

During  the  next  few  weeks  I  spent  my  time  partly  in 
learning  the  language  of  the  nation  whose  guest  I  was, 
and  partly  in  studying  the  geography  of  the  country  and 


184  IONIA. 

becoming  acquainted  with  its  towns  and  villages,  and  the 
manner  in  which  its  agriculture  is  carried  on.  Jason" 
placed  himself  entirely  at  my  disposal,  and  several  times 
a  week  we  made  aerial  excursions  to  different  points  of 
interest,  in  the  course  of  which  the  land  was  spread  be 
neath  us  like  a  map,  and  every  detail  could  be  observed 
with  a  minuteness  which  no  other  mode  of  traveling 
could  approach.  Every/feod)  of  the  land  between  its 
mountain  ramparts>8^cultivated  like  a  garden,  and  every 
part  devoted  tp^tlie  products  to  which  experience  shows 
it  to  be  bes'f  adapted.  The  slopes  at  the  foot  of  the 
northern  hills  are  mainly  occupied  by  vineyards  and  the 
raising  of  silk  worms.  The  lower  hills  are  covered  with 
sheep  and  the  smaller  valleys  between  with  cattle;  cotton 
is  raised  in  great  quantities  in  the  center  of  the  valley, 
ut  the  bulk  of  the  country  is  divided  into  small  farms 
where  all  kinds  of  grain  and  vegetable  crops  are  pro 
duced  in  rotation.  The  country  abounds  in  rivers  and 
streams,  which  are  connected  by  innumerable  canals,  like 
the  veins  and  arteries  of  the  human  body,  and  there  are 
numbers  of  large  reservoirs  for  storing  superfluous  water 
so  that  such  a  thing  as  a  failure  of  crops  is  unknown,  and 
the  produce  per  acre  is  such  as  would  astonish  the  most 
thorough-going  scientific  farmers  of  our  own  country. 
This  result  is  owing  not  alone  to  the  fact  that  heat  and 
moisture  are  always  supplied  in  sufficient  quantities,  but 
also  to  the  elaborate  system  of  returning  waste  products 
to  the  soil,  which  is  provided  for  by  a  department  of  the 
government  presided  over  by  some  of  the  ablest  scient 
ists  of  the  country.  The  sewage  of  every  city,  town  and 
village  is  carried  underground  to  large  reservoirs,  and 
there  quickly  transformed  into  the  most  admirable  fer 
tilizers,  which  are  sold  to  the  farmers  at  very  moderate 
rates,  and  the  result  is  that  the  land  is  constantly  grow- 


TIMOLEON,  THE  LIBERATOR.  185 

ing  richer,  and  the  returns  from  it  becoming  greater  with 
each  decade. 

The  farms  vary  from  forty  to  a  hundred  acres,  and  all 
the  labor  is  done  by  the  lessee  himself,  or  in  some  cases 
by  the  farmer  and  his  grown  up  son,  who  is  very  com 
monly  his  successor.  For,  although  every  farm  pays 
rent  to  the  government,  the  annual  charge  is  very  mod 
erate,  and  the  leases  are  made  for  a  long  period  of  years, 
and  the  same  farms  are  sometimes  held  by  the  same 
family  for  centuries. 

The  farm  houses  are  very  substantial,  and  even  elegant 
in  character,  and  every  one  has  its  flower  and  vegetable 
gardens,  which  are  models  of  neatness  and  beauty.  I 
noticed  that  all  plowing,  harrowing  and  reaping  is  done 
not  by  horse  power,  but  by  automatic  machinery,  elec 
tricity  being,  of  course,  the  motive  power. 

"Where,"  I  asked  of  Jason,  "does  all  the  electricity 
come  from  to  accomplish  such  a  great  amount  of  work?" 

"You  will  observe,"  said  'he,  "that  every  farmer  has  a 
wind-mill,  or  in  some  cases  two.  These  are  going  night 
and  day  during  the  most  of  the  year,  and  they  keep  his 
water  tank  filled,  do  his  plowing  and  reaping  and  supply 
all  the  power  required  to  run  every  piece  of  machinery  he 
can  use." 

"But  I  do  not  understand,"  said  I,  "how  such  great  re 
sults  can  be  accomplished  by  such  an  apparently  inade 
quate  cause." 

"That  is  because  you  are  not  yet  initiated  into  one  of 
our  greatest  discoveries,  which  enables  us  to  utilize  the 
magnetism  with  which  the  earth  is  stored,  and  which 
requires  only  a  small  current  of  electricity  to  set  it  free 
and  enable  us  to  make  use  of  it  to  an  unlimited  extent. 
Your  scientists  and  economists  have  been  calculating  the 
extent  of  the  coal  stored  beneath  the  earth's  surface,  and 


186  IONIA. 

wondering  what  would  become  of  your  industries  when  it 
is  exhausted,  never  dreaming  that  the  great  globe  itself 
is  a  storehouse  of  force  so  infinite  in  extent  that  all  that 
man  can  ever  use  of  it  is  but  like  one  grain  of  sand  com 
pared  to  the  shores  of  the  ocean.  Your  electricians  are 
coming  nearer  to  that  grand  discovery  every  year,  and 
when  it  finally  dawns  upon  them  they  will  see  that  they 
have  been  like  men  groping  about  with  bandaged  eyes, 
while  the  sun  has  been  pouring  its  floods  of  light  upon 
the  whole  world  around  them.  It  will  dwarf  every  me 
chanical  invention  and  scientific  discovery  of  past  times, 
and  will  doubtless  lead  to  the  belief  that  a  new  era  of 
prosperity  is  about  to  dawn  upon  the  human  race,  but  I 
question  if  it  will  be  productive  of  any  permanent  bene 
fit,  and  its  immediate  consequences  will  be  disastrous  to 
great  numbers,  for  it  will  dislocate  the  whole  industrial 
system,  and  bring  starvation  and  ruin  to  coal  miners  and 
many  others." 

'Then  you  do  not  consider  this  as  one  of  the  funda 
mental  secrets  of  the  great  advance  your  own  people  have 
made  in  civilization?" 

"By  no  means.  Science  and  mechanical  improve 
ments  have  multiplied  our  comforts,  but  they  have  played 
but  a  secondary  part  in  raising  the  people  to  the  high 
moral,  intellectual  and  physical  standard  which  they  have 
attained.  Their  superiority  in  these  respects  is  owing 
entirely  to  our  beneficent  laws,  and  especially  to  the  four 
great  laws  of  Timoleon,  which  I  propose  to  explain  to 
you  in  the  course  of  these  excursions,  but  in  order  that 
you  may  understand  how  they  came  to  be  enacted  and 
how  the  memory  of  the  great  king,  as  we  call  him,  is 
revered  amongst  us,  I  think  it  would  be  well  for  me  first 
to  give  you  a  short  outline  of  the  history  of  Ionia,  and 
especially  of  the  life  of  Timoleon  himself." 


TIMOLEON,  THE  LIBERATOR.     v  187 

"That  will  give  me  more  pleasure  than  anything  else 
I  could  think  of,  and  the  pleasure  will  be  less  than  the 
profit,  for  I  came  here  mainly  to  know  the  secrets  of 
your  superiority  to  all  other  races  and  peoples,  and  I 
should  be  glad  to  have  you  commence  the  narration  just 
as  soon  as  you  feel  disposed." 

"We  must  put  it  off  till  the  commencing  of  our  return 
trip,  for  we  are  now  arriving  at  the  forest,  where  we 
must  disembark  for  a  time  and  look  around  us." 

This  conversation  occurred  during  the  first  of  our  ex 
cursions,  when  we  traversed  the  whole  valley  of  Ionia 
in  a  couple  of  hours,  having  the  river  directly  under 
neath  us  nearly  all  the  way,  and  passing  many  towns  and 
villages,  and  especially  the  ancient  capital,  the  city  of 
Thalmon,  whose  handsome  squares  and  gardens  and 
magnificent  buildings  marked  it  as  second  only  in  beauty 
and  grandeur  to  lolkos  itself.  As  we  approached  the 
head  of  the  valley  an  opening  in  the  hills  appeared,  cov 
ered  with  a  dense  growth  of  noble  trees,  and  very  soon  I 
found  that  we  were  floating  over  a  sea  of  foliage  com 
posed  of  many  tints  of  green,  rippling  into  silver  as  the 
wind  passed  over  it.  The  sun  poured  a  flood  of  warm 
light  upon  it,  and  birds  of  beautiful  plumage  were  seen 
flitting  about  in  great  numbers;  far  away  in  front  the 
purple  mountains  rose  against  a  background  of  bright- 
blue  sky,  while  the  nearer  hills  were  dark  with  pines 
nearly  to  their  summits.  It  was  a  scene  of  unrivaled 
beauty,  and  the  novelty  of  viewing  a  forest  from  above 
the  tree  tops  lent  to  it  a  peculiar  charm. 

Presently  an  opening  appeared,  and  we  descended 
upon  the  roof  of  the  Forest  House,  a  handsome  building 
of  great  extent,  built  in  the  form  of  a  square,  with  the 
river  flowing  through  the  center.  Descending  to  the 
interior  court  we  found  ourselves  in  a  delightful  garden 


188  IONIA. 

and  passed  many  groups  of  happy  looking  holiday 
makers,  most  of  whom  my  friend  saluted,  without  stop 
ping  to  speak,  for  he  wished  me  to  see  something  of  the 
forest  itself.  We  entered  it  by  one  of  several  avenues 
leading  from  the  palace  and  I  was  at  once  struck  by  the 
great  size  and  perfect  proportions  of  the  trees.  There 
were  no  saplings  or  misshapen,  unhealthy  specimens, 
but  every  tree  was  perfect  in  form  and  sound  in  every 
part.  This,  I  was  told,  was  the  result  of  the  labors  of  a 
corps  of  experienced  foresters,  maintained  by  the  gov 
ernment  to  keep  the  extensive  grounds  in  order,  and  they 
did  their  work  well,  for  even  in  English  parks  I  never 
saw  such  magnificent  oaks,  elms  and  beeches  as  abound 
ed  here.  There  were  other  varieties,  including  many 
which  were  new  to  me,  but  all  seemed  to  be  enjoying  the 
right  conditions  for  perfect  development. 

We  walked  along  a  beautiful  avenue  completely 
overarched  by  the  foliage,  catching  sight  now  of 
a  reach  of  the  river  with  some  merry  company  in 
barge  or  row-boat,  and  again  of  an  open  glade  where 
young  people  were  disporting  themselves  in  athletic 
games  on  the  turf.  Five  minutes'  walk  brought  us  to  a 
lake  in  whose  cool  depths  many  swimmers  were  disport 
ing  themselves,  and  we  remained  for  a  time  to  watch 
their  gambols.  Then  we  passed  still  farther  into  the 
depths  of  the  forest,  where  the  silence  was  broken  only 
by  the  music  of  the  birds,  which  kept  up  a  veritable  con 
cert  among  the  trees.  Farther  on  we  saw  a  herd  of  deer, 
which  were  so  tame  that  they  came  quite  close  and  al 
lowed  us  to  stroke  their  shaggy  coats.  Neither  animal 
nor  bird  is  molested  in  the  forest,  except  such  as  are 
noxious  and  mischievous,  so  that  it  is  a  perfect  paradise 
for  them,  and  they  exist  in  great  numbers,  and  add  much 
to  the  attractions  of  the  place.  Having  walked  about  a 


TIMOLEON,  THE  LIBERATOR.  189 

couple  of  miles  from  the  palace,  we  reached  a  boat-land 
ing  on  the  river,  where  we  waited  till  one  of  the  electric 
barges  came  by  on  its  return  trip.  We  boarded,  and  had 
a  delightful  run  down  past  banks  of  ferns  and  wild  flow 
ers,  with  glimpses  of  mountain-tops  beyond  the  trees, 
sunshine  and  shade  swiftly  alternating  and  a  soft,  sweet- 
scented  breeze  blowing  in  our  faces  all  the  way.  A  few 
minutes  brought  us  to  the  Forest  House,  the  interior  of 
which  we  spent  a  little  time  in  examining  before  we  de 
parted  for  lolkos  in  our  air-ship.  We  walked  through 
the  halls,  which  were  of  choice  colored  marble,  those  on 
every  floor  being  different  in  design  and  material;  we 
looked  into  the  public  rooms, — such  as  the  dining-room, 
the  parlors  and  reading-rooms,  the  concert  hall  and  the 
gymnasium,  and  admired  their  fine  proportions  and 
decorations:  the  walls  and  ceilings  were  frescoed  by 
masters  in  the  art,  and  the  furniture  was  rich,  elegant 
and  appropriate.  Every  room  afforded  entrancing  views 
from  the  windows,  and  seemed  designed  for  the  use  of 
persons  of  boundless  wealth  and  taste,  and  yet  they  were 
intended  for  the  plain  people, — the  mechanics,  trades 
men,  farmers  and  others,  all  of  whom  know  how  to  ap 
preciate  and  enjoy  without  abusing  all  these  luxuries. 
The  roof,  which  is  flat,  is  mainly  devoted  to  the  landing 
of  air-vessels,  which  are  protected  from  the  wind  by  high 
walls  on  each  side,  but  all  round  the  outside  runs  a  para 
pet,  furnished  with  innumerable  seats,  where  the  guests 
congregate  to  enjoy  the  cool  evening  air  and  the  glorious 
sunsets  for  which  the  forest  is  celebrated. 

Now,  this  is  only  one  amongst  a  number  of  na 
tional  parks  where  the  people  are  privileged  to  spend 
their  yearly  vacations,  which  are  taken  by  all  as 
a  matter  of  course.  I  visited  most  of  them  in 
company  with  Jason,  and  found  them  all  equally 


190  IONIA. 

attractive,  and  all  designed  and  equipped  with  such 
exquisite  taste  and  on  a  scale  of  such  costly  mag 
nificence  as  showed  that  the  government's  sole  care  is 
for  the  comfort  and  well-being  of  the  people  at  large. 
One  of  these  parks  is  an  island,  situated  in  an  arm  of  the 
lake,  running  up  between  high  hills,  a  most  romantic 
situation,  and  largely  favored  by  those  living  inland,  out 
of  sight  of  Lake  Malo.  Another  is  in  an  upland  valley, 
where  there  are  miles  and  miles  of  beautiful  springy  turf, 
and  where  horses  of  a  fine  breed  are  kept  for  those 
who  love  to  take  exercise  in  the  saddle.  These  are  the 
only  horses  in  the  whole  country,  and  for  beauty,  speed 
and  sagacity  they  are  not  to  be  matched  anywhere  else 
in  the  world.  Several  of  the  parks  are  to  be  found  scat 
tered  through  the  valley,  and  abound  in  pleasant  groves 
and  fountains,  flower-gardens  and  green  arbors,  and  are 
much  favored  by  elderly  people,  who  love  to  saunter  in 
pleasant  places  and  pass  the  time  in  conversation.  -  One 
of  the  summer  resorts  (it  can  hardly  be  called  a  park) 
is  amongst  the  perpetual  snows  of  the  high  mountains, 
and  here,  in  the  midst  of  summer,  all  the  winter  delights 
are  enjoyed, — skating,  snow-shoeing  and  tobogganing 
on  a  grand  scale  down  a  mile  of  steep  mountain  side  and 
across  a  valley  two  miles  wide.  The  hotel  at  this  place 
is  built  of  double  walls  of  aluminum,  transported  to  the 
spot  on  air  vessels,  for  there  is  no  other  way  of  reach 
ing  it.  Another  of  these  recreation  grounds  is  among 
the  hills  on  the  north  side  of  the  great  lake,  where  there 
are  many  fine  trout  streams,  which  unite  to  form  a  lovely 
sheet  of  water,  stocked  with  many  kinds  of  fish  by  the 
care  of  the  fishing  department  of  the  state.  There  the 
lover  of  the  gentle  art  may  while  away  his  time  amid  the 
loveliest  scenery,  and  seldom  fail  to  fill  his  basket.  And 
there  are  many  other  such  places  by  lake  and  mountain, 


TIMOLEON,  THE  LIBERATOR.  191 

so  that  the  people  have  a  great  variety  of  choice  for  their 
summer  vacations,  and  the  certainty  of  facilities  for  all 
kinds  of  healthful  recreation  as  well  as  comfortable  quar 
ters  wherever  they  may  go.  In  all  of  them,  there  is 
abundance  of  land  and  suitable  buildings  provided  by 
the  government,  either  in  the  form  of  grand  palatial 
structures,  as  in  the  forest,  or  of  a  number  of  widely- 
scattered  cottages  situated  conveniently  to  the  sport,  as 
is  the  case  in  the  valley  of  the  anglers.  In  the  former 
class,  the  buildings  are  rented  to  a  company  or  an  indi 
vidual,  who  performs  the  office  of  hotel-keeper,  charging 
certain  fixed  and  moderate  rates,  which  are  not  in  any 
case  to  be  exceeded;  in  the  latter,  the  cottages  are  rented 
to  families  or  small  parties  who  look  after  their  own 
cuisine  and  keep  the  premises  in  order.  Every  family 
and  every  individual  in  the  country  is  thus  enabled  to 
enjoy  a  change  of  air  and  scene  on  such  terms  as  all 
can  easily  afford,  and  by  varying  their  choice  from  year 
to  year,  the  charm  of  novelty  is  added  to  all  the  other 
delights  of  their  summer  outing. 

I  visited  all  these  splendid  play-grounds  with  Jason  in 
the  air-ship,  and  by  the  end  of  October  I  had  visited  or 
passed  over  nearly  every  portion  of  the  country.  We 
devoted  at  least  three  days  of  each  week  to  this  pleasant 
work,  and  sometimes  the  lady  Helen  and  sometimes  her 
daughter  accompanied  us,  and  their  presence  always 
added  to  the  enjoyment  of  the  trip,  but  I  never  spent  a 
dull  hour  in  Jason's  company,  for  his  stores  of  informa 
tion  were  unlimited,  and  his  command  of  language  such 
as  I  have  never  known  in  any  other  man. 

He  began  his  sketch  of  the  history  of  the  lonians  on 
our  return  trip  the  very  first  day,  and  continued  it  each 
time  we  went  out  alone.  His  narrative  would  be  too  long 
for  repetition  here,  but  a  short  abridgment  of  it  will  be 


192  IONIA. 

necessary  to  show  the  circumstances  under  which  this 
remarkable  people  entered  upon  their  grand  career  of 
progress  and  development. 

The  lonians  are  descended  from  a  body  of  seven  thou 
sand  Greeks,  mostly  Athenians,  and  natives  of  the 
Ionian  cities,  who  were  in  the  service  of  the  Persian  king 
at  the  time  of  the  invasion  of  Alexander. 

Being  located  in  the  southern  part  of  the  Persian  em 
pire,  they  found  themselves  isolated  and  cut  off  from  all 
support  at  the  time  of  its  final  overthrow.  They  scorned 
to  place  themselves  under  the  banner  of  the  Macedonian 
tyrant,  and  as  a  return  to  their  own  country  was  im 
possible,  they  struck  out  eastward  to  find  a  new  home 
for  themselves,  and  after  many  painful  wanderings  and 
some  hard  fighting,  at  last  found  repose  in  the  valley 
now  occupied  by  their  descendants.  The  country  was 
mostly  desert  at  that  time,  and  the  inhabitants  few,  so  the 
Greeks  had  no  trouble  in  expelling  them,  retaining  only 
such  of  the  women  as  they  wanted  for  wives.  The 
Athenians  knew  something  of  the  art  of  irrigation,  and 
soon  brought  a  considerable  part  of  the  land  under  culti 
vation.  They  lived  in  peace  and  prosperity  for  many 
centuries,  unmolested  by  any  intruders  from  the  out 
side  world.  When  the  population  became  too  numerous 
for  the  cultivated  land  to  support,  it  became  customary 
for  bands  of  the  young  men  to  go  out  and  serve  as  sol 
diers  under  the  various  Hindoo  potentates,  the  survivors 
returning  from  time  to  time  with  their  spoil  and  settling 
down  to  become  husbandmen  or  mechanics  and  fathers 
of  families.  The  government  had  been  democratic  for 
many  centuries,  but  the  captain  of  one  of  these  bands  of 
mercenaries  made  himself  master  of  the  country,  and  his 
descendants  reigned  as  kings  from  the  tenth  down  to  the 
sixteenth  century. 


TIMOLEON,  THE  LIBERATOR.  193 

About  the  year  1575,  one  of  the  lieutenants  of  Akbar 
Khan,  the  great  Mogul  conqueror,  penetrated  the  valley, 
overthrew  the  reigning  monarch  and  brought  the  people 
into  subjection.  lie  caused  every  member  of  the  royal 
family  to  be  put  to  death  except  one,  a  boy  of  fourteen, 
named  Timoleon,  whom  Aristarchus,  a  faithful  minister 
of  the  crown,  carried  off,  with  a  considerable  amount  of 
the  royal  treasure,  and  secreted  in  the  mountains  till  an 
opportunity  presented  itself  for  their  escape  from  the 
country.  He  caused  it  to  be  knowTn  amongst  those  who 
were  faithful  to  the  country's  cause  that  the  boy  would 
return  as  soon  as  he  became  of  age  and  attempt  to  regain 
his  father's  throne  and  drive  the  invaders  out.  There 
were  still  several  bands  of  Ionian  soldiers  fighting  in 
various  parts  of  India,  and  some  trusty  patriots  under 
took  to  convey  to  them  the  secret  of  the  young  king's 
intended  return,  and  the  date  of  it,  so  that  they  should 
be  ready  at  the  appointed  time  to  fight  for  freedom. 
Aristarchus,  with  his  charge,  made  his  way  to  the  Dutch 
East  Indies,  and  from  thence  to  Europe.  There  they 
met  the  Prince  of  Orange,  and  also  the  young  Henry  of 
Navarre,  and  learned  something  of  Eurpoean  soldiering 
in  which  the  young  prince  distinguished  himself  on  many 
occasions.  They  also  visited  Greece  and  Italy,  and  many 
other  countries,  and  thus  gained  a  much  larger  knowl 
edge  of  the  world  than  was  possessed  by  most  men  then 
living.  Aristarchus  devoted  himself  to  the  education  of 
his  charge,  and  endeavored  to  instil  into  him  such  prin 
ciples  as  would  make  him  an  able  and  wise  ruler. 

Returning  at  the  appointed  time  by  the  way  they  came, 
they  secreted  themselves  near  the  southern  outlet  of  the 
pass  which  then  led  from  Ionia  to  the  outer  world,  and 
which  was  afterwards  known  as  the  Gates  of  Hades. 
Posting  themselves  so  as  to  observe  the  approaches  to 

13 


19-1  IONIA. 

the  pass,  it  was  not  long  before  they  saw  some  small 
bands  of  Ionian  veterans  returning  in  anticipation  of 
the  expected  uprising,  and  through  them  they  estab 
lished  communication  with  their  friends  inside.  On  a 
given  day  they  entered,  surprised  and  overcame  the  gar 
rison  at  the  head  of  the  gorge,  and  sent  word  to  all  who 
could  bear  arms  to  assemble  at  that  point.  In  this  way 
they  gathered  together  a  force  of  several  thousand  men 
inured  to  righting,  and  ready  to  die  for  their  country 
rather  than  submit  to  the  ascendancy  of  the  hated  Mos 
lems.  The  mogul  governor,  finding  himself  trapped,  as 
sembled  his  troops  and  made  a  furious  assault  upon  the 
Greeks,  but  Timoleon,  who  had  assumed  the  command 
at  once  and  showed  himself  to  be  a  born  leader,  posted 
his  men  so  skillfully  and  made  such  good  use  of  the  few 
small  cannon  he  had  found  in  the  fort,  that  the  Moham 
medans  were  repulsed  with  great  slaughter,  and  com 
pelled  to  sue  for  peace.  This  was  granted  on  condition 
that  they  should  depart  without  arms  or  valuables,  and 
carrying  only  a  few  days'  provisions  for  each  man.  All 
the  treasure  they  had  accumulated  and  such  of  the 
Grecian  women  who  had  been  compelled  to  live  with 
them  as  chose  to  stay,  were  left  behind.  Timoleon,  ex 
pecting  their  return  at  an  early  date  with  large  reinforce 
ments,  set  to  work  to  form  an  army  from  amongst  those 
of  his  people  who  had  seen  service  in  India,  and  drilled 
it  in  European  fashion.  He  also  strengthened  the  de 
fences  of  the  Gates  of  Hades  and  sent  out  spies 
to  bring  word  of  the  approach  of  any  invading  force. 
Two  years  passed,  and  Akbar  seemed  to  have  forgotten 
them.  He  was  busy  elsewhere  with  larger  schemes  of 
conquest.  Meantime,  Timoleon  occupied  himself  in  im 
proving  the  internal  resources  of  the  country.  Roads 
and  canals  were  built  and  repaired,  and  every  encourage- 


TIMOLEON,  THE  LIBERATOR.  195 

ment  was  given  to  industry  and  trade.  The  fisheries  on 
the  lake  were  stimulated  by  the  opening  up  of  convenient 
markets,  and  many  substantial  boats  were  built  and 
given  to  the  fishermen  on  condition  that  they  were  to  be 
used  as  a  fleet  of  war  in  case  of  invasion.  The  approach 
to  the  valley  from  the  head  of  the  Gates  of  Hades  was 
very  long  and  narrow,  winding  for  many  miles  between 
mountain  and  lake,  and  this  Timoleon  intended  to  use 
as  a  second  line  of  defence,  posting  bodies  of  troops  on 
precipices  overhanging  the  lake,  and  thus,  with  the  help 
of  his  fleet,  take  the  enemy  between  two  fires. 

His  little  army  was  used  as  a  police  force,  and  the  dis 
orders  which  had  arisen  during  the  period  of  Moslem 
rule  were  speedily  suppressed,  and  the  country  very  soon 
began  to  wear  the  appearance  of  peace  and  prosperity. 
But  Timoleon  was  far  from  satisfied  with  the  condition 
of  the  people.  There  were  no  manufactures,  and  the 
system  of  irrigation  was  very  crude  and  imperfect,  so 
that  not  half  the  land  was  cultivated,  and  that  only  very 
poorly.  Remembering  the  magnificent  dikes  and  canals 
of  Holland,  he  could  not  help  wishing  that  he  had  a  corps 
of  Dutch  engineers  and  artisans  in  his  service  to  utilize 
to  the  full  extent  the  unusual  advantages  of  the  country 
for  irrigation  and  navigable  waterways.  Remembering 
also  the  situation  of  the  people  of  the  Netherlands  at  the 
time,  and  the  apparent  hopelessness  of  their  struggle 
with  the  Spanish  monarchy,  he  had  little  doubt  that 
many  of  the  choicest  spirits  and  most  capable  artificers 
might  be  induced  to  leave  their  own  distracted  country 
for  a  quiet  home  beyond  the  seas. 

With  this  end  in  view,  he  commissioned  his  old  friend 
Aristarchus  to  make  another  visit  to  Holland,  providing 
him  with  ample  funds  to  charter  a  ship,  and  sending 
with  him  a  chosen  guard  of  veterans.  That  voyage 


196  IONIA. 

was  accomplished  successfully  in  about  two  years'  time, 
and  resulted  in  the  addition  to  the  country's  resources 
of  fifty  skilled  artificers  and  engineers,  including  men 
who  understood  the  manufacturing  of  cloth  and  of  paper, 
printers,  type-founders,  masons,  carpenters  and  other 
competent  mechanics. 

Hardly  had  the  immigrants  arrived  when  the  long- 
expected  attack  was  made  by  the  mogul  emperor.  He 
sent  some  fifty  thousand  of  his  choicest  troops  to  re 
duce  Ionia  to  submission,  but  they  never  succeeded  in 
entering  it.  Half  way  up  the  pass,  where  the  river 
changed  its  course  and  was  crossed  by  a  wooden  bridge, 
Timoleon  had  built  a  strong  fortification,  which  com 
manded  both  bridge  and  road,  so  that  the  Moslems  were 
unable  to  force  their  way  through.  On  six  successive 
days  they  advanced  to  the  attack  with  great  resolution, 
only  to  be  mown  down  by  the  discharge  of  cannon  at 
short  range  or  picked  off  by  the  sharpshooters  whom 
Timoleon  had  placed  at  every  point  of  vantage  amongst 
the  rocks.  Once  they  gained  the  center  of  the  bridge, 
but  the  young  king  charged  them  so  furiously  at  the 
head  of  fifty  of  his  bravest  soldiers  that  they  were  driven 
back  with  great  slaughter,  and  not  one  of  those  who  had 
set  foot  on  the  bridge  returned  alive.  The  next  day  the 
invaders  disappeared,  and  the  pass  was  left  clear  from 
end  to  end. 

But  Timoleon  knew  that  Akbar  was  accustomed  to 
conquer,  and  that  this  first  attempt  would  of  a  surety 
be  followed  by  another,  and  that  so  long  as  there  was  a 
road  into  the  country  he  would  never  desist  in  his  efforts 
to  subdue  it.  The  Ionian  king  therefore  consulted  with 
the  most  experienced  of  his  Dutch  engineers  as  to  the 
feasibility  of  closing  the  pass  altogether,  and  shutting 
the  valley  off  from  any  practicable  approach.  It  was 


THE  MOHAMMEDAN  WAS  CAUGHT  WITH  THE  CURRENT  AND 
DESTROYED  — Page  197. 


TIMOLEON,  THE  LIBERATOR.  197 

found  that  there  were  many  overhanging  rocks  near  the 
bridge  which  could  easily  be  dislodged  by  charges  of 
gunpowder,  thus  creating  a  dam  which  would  cause  the 
water  to  back  up  and  fill  the  whole  space  between  the 
cliffs.  This  was  accordingly  done,  and  the  second  attack 
expected  with  grim  determination.  It  took  place  within 
two  months,  and  the  second  army  was  larger  and  better 
equipped  than  the  first.  They  brought  with  them  two 
heavy  siege  guns,  which  played  upon  Timoleon's  fort 
with  much  destructive  effect.  The  retreat  was  quickly 
sounded,  and  after  firing  the  fuses  connected  with  the 
mines,  the  lonians  retired  to  a  considerable  distance. 
The  invaders  followed  up  their  seeming  advantage,  and 
crowded  in  great  numbers  over  the  bridge  and  into  the 
fort,  but  their  further  advance  was  checked  by  the  fire  of 
a  couple  of  small  pieces  which  commanded  the  roadway. 
They  kept  crowding  forward  to  the  bridge,  however, 
until  it  was  covered  by  a  solid  mass  of  turbaned  warriors, 
and  then  came  a  tremendous  explosion,  followed  by 
others  in  quick  succession.  The  fort,  the  bridge  and  all 
who  were  anywhere  near  them  were  crushed  under  great 
masses  of  falling  rocks,  and  the  water  being  effectually 
dammed  up,  accumulated  rapidly,  so  that  the  lonians 
had  to  retire  farther  and  farther  up  the  pass  to  save 
themselves  from  drowning.  By  ascending  some  of  the 
crags  higher  up,  they  could  see  the  host  of  the  enemy 
gathered  in  the  bed  of  the  river  at  some  distance  below 
the  scene  of  the  explosion,  evidently  meditating  another 
attack.  The  stoppage  of  the  stream  had  left  the  river  dry 
below,  but  it  was  only  for  a  time.  After  several  hours, 
the  accumulated  waters  burst  the  dam  and  swept  on 
ward  with  irresistible  force,  and  the  Mohammedan  army 
was  caught  in  the  current  and  destroyed  to  a  man.  The 
lonians  always  supposed  that  Akbar  was  present  with 


198  IONIA. 

his  army,  and  perished  among  the  rest,  but  their  descend 
ants  discovered,  on  renewing  acquaintance  with  the 
outer  world,  that  this  was  a  mistake.  History  shows 
that  the  great  mogul  did  not  take  the  command  of  this 
expedition  in  person,  but  delegated  it  to  one  of  his  lieu 
tenants.  When  it  was  found  that  the  great  explosion  and 
resulting  flood  had  made  the  gorge  impenetrable  to  man 
or  beast,  Timoleon  announced  that  no  attempt  would  be 
made  to  reopen  it  for  a  number  of  years,  as  inaccess 
ibility  was  their  best  security.  He  had  probably  no  in 
tention  of  making  any  attempt  to  reopen  it  while  he 
lived,  but  thought  it  best  to  say  as  little  about  that  as 
possible  on  account  of  his  new  subjects  from  the  Nether 
lands.  They,  no  doubt,  pined  sometimes  for  the  cloudy 
skies  and  colder  climate  of  their  native  country,  and  it 
was  doubtless  best  to  leave  them  with  the  faint  hope  of 
a  possible  return  at  some  distant  day,  but  as  the  years 
rolled  on  and  new  ties  were  formed,  the  desire  doubt 
less  died  away,  and  there  is  no  record  of  any  dissatis 
faction  of  the  Dutch  colony  in  their  new  home. 

All  fear  of  invasion  being  at  an  end,  Timoleon  settled 
down  in  earnest  to  the  work  of  his  life.  A  new  system 
of  irrigation  was  laid  out  and  completed,  rivers  were 
straightened,  deepened  and  made  navigable,  and  the 
whole  valley  covered  with  profitable  farms.  Manufac 
tories  of  every  kind  were  established,  the  arts  of  printing, 
paper-making  and  type-founding  introduced  for  the  first 
time,  and  the  whole  valley  ransacked  for  books  in  order 
that  they  might  be  preserved  and  multiplied.  The  new 
capital  was  laid  out  and  built  on  a  scale  to  suit  many 
generations  to  come,  and  in  the  construction  of  sewers 
and  the  laying  out  of  streets,  such  far-seeing  wisdom  was 
shown  that  very  few  changes  have  been  necessary  up  to 
the  present  time.  All  the  mountains  round  about  were 


TIMOLEON,  THE  LIBERATOR.  199 

prospected  for  valuable  minerals,  and  gold,  silver,  cop 
per,  tin  and  lead  were  found  in  abundance,  but  very  little 
iron  and  absolutely  no  coal  whatever.  This  was  con 
sidered  a  great  misfortune  at  the  time,  but  has  since 
proved  a  blessing  in  disguise  in  leading  to  the  discovery 
of  aluminum  and  electricity  as  substitutes  for  iron  and 
steam.  But  the  material  well-being  of  his  people  was 
the  smallest  of  the  ends  which  the  great  king  had  in 
view.  His  supreme  claim  to  the  gratitude  of  posterity 
lies  in  the  laws  he  promulgated,  and  the  institutions  he 
established  to  secure  their  moral  and  intellectual  ad 
vancement.  He  founded  schools  and  colleges  in  every 
part  of  the  country,  and  made  education  compulsory. 
He  endowed  a  school  of  science  and  mechanical  art,  and 
provided  liberal  rewards  for  useful  inventions,  so  that 
without  the  institution  of  patent  laws,  the  inventive 
genius  of  the  country  has  ever  been  stimulated  to  the 
highest  point  of  activity.  He  suppressed  wrong-doing 
with  a  strong  hand,  and  even  before  the  close  of  his  reign 
the  criminal  class  had  practically  ceased  to  exist.  Be 
sides  all  this,  he  was  superior  to  the  weakness  of  leaving 
a  race  of  descendants  to  enjoy  the  kingly  power  after 
him,  knowing  that  while  his  own  spirit  was  as  pure  and 
lofty  as  that  of  Marcus  Aurelius,  his  son  or  his  son's  son 
might  play  the  part  of  Commodus,  and  undo  all  the  good 
he  had  accomplished.  He  therefore  refrained  from  mar 
rying  so  that,  as  he  was  the  last  of  his  line,  there  could 
be  no  claimants  to  his  throne.  He  even  relinquished  the 
title  of  king,  and  allowed  himself  to  be  elected  archon  in 
order  that  the  constitution  he  framed  for  the  govern 
ment  of  the  country  might  be  in  good  working  order  at 
the  time  of  his  death.  The  power  he  inherited  was  an 
absolute  despotism,  and  no  one  ever  questioned  his  right, 
not  only  to  administer,  but  also  to  make  the  laws  by 


200  IONIA. 

which  the  country  was  governed,  and  to  him  alone  be 
longs  the  credit  of  the  legislation  which  lies  at  the  foun 
dation  of  all  its  prosperity  and  progress.  During  his 
reign,  the  people  became  educated  and  enlightened  to 
such  an  extent  that  they  were  fit  for  self-government, 
and  the  constitution  devised  by  Timoleon  has  been  found 
amply  sufficient  for  future  generations,  and  has  never 
been  materially  changed  to  this  day. 


CHAPTER   X. 
TIMOLEON,  THE  LEGISLATOR. 

Having  traced  the  history  of  the  Ionian  people  down 
to  the  conclusion  of  the  reign  of  Timoleon,  Jason  pro 
ceeded  to  enlighten  me  as  to  the  character  of  the  laws 
instituted  by  that  monarch,  the  beneficial  effects  of  which 
have  exalted  his  name  amongst  them  to  the  highest  pitch 
of  reverence  and  gratitude. 

He  began  by  saying: 

"Our  great  king  enacted  many  excellent  laws,  but 
amongst  them  all,  four  stand  pre-eminent,  as  being  the 
cause  of  all  our  great  prosperity  and  social  well-being. 
They  are  commonly  known  as,  The  Four  Laws  of  Tim 
oleon,  and  are,  first,  the  Land  Law;  second,  the  Law  of 
Inheritance;  third,  the  General  Criminal  Law;  and, 
fourth,  the  Marriage  Law. 

"The  first  makes  the  soil  of  the  country  the  property 
of  the  people  as  a  whole,  and  has  prevented  the  forma 
tion  of  a  landed  aristocracy.  The  second  provides  that 
no  person  shall  become  possessed  by  inheritance  of  more 
than  a  certain  limited  amount  of  wealth,  and  has  pre 
served  us  from  the  dangers  of  plutocracy.  These  two 


TIMOLEON,  THE  LEGISLATOR.  201 

laws  together  secure  a  fairly  equal  division  of  the  prod 
ucts  of  labor,  and  have  saved  us  from  the  class  dis-  —7  r 
tinctions  which  divide  the  people  of  all  other  countries 
according  to  the  amount  of  their  wealth. 

"The  criminal  law  exterminated  the  whole  brood  of 
evil-doers  and  relieved  tts-from  the  necessity  of  keeping 
up  jails,  reformatories  and  a  police  establishment.  It 
has  reduced  the  legal  profession  almost  to  the  vanishing 
point,  and  done  away  with  the  necessity  of  maintaining 
criminal  courts,  and  thus  effected  an  incalculable  sav 
ing  of  expense  to  the  community,  besides  providing  ab 
solute  security  to  person  and  property.  The  marriage 
law,  however,  as  it  was  the  latest  product  of  Timoleon's 
legislative  wisdom,  is  the  instrument  by  which,  above 
all  others,  we  have  been  raised  in  the  scale  of  civiliza 
tion.  It  provides  that  those  who  are  unworthy  to  be 
the  progenitors  of  succeeding  generations  shall  be  de 
barred  from  the  privilege  of  parenthood,  and  thus  se 
cures  an  infallible  advance  from  generation  to  genera 
tion  in  the  physical,  intellectual  and  moral  character  of 
the  people." 

"Before  you  go  further,"  said  I,  "in  explanation  of 
the  operation  of  each  of  these  laws,  I  will  ask  you  to 
give  me  an  account  of  their  origin,  for  it  is  difficult  to 
understand  how  one  man  could  arrive  at  so  much  wis 
dom  as  to  originate  laws  so  far  in  advance  of  his  time, 
and  calculated  to  produce  such  wonderful  results." 

"That  I  will,  with  all  my  heart,"  said  Jason,  "and,  first 
of  all,  with  regard  to  the  character  of  Timoleon  himself, 
I  must  remind  you  that  great  men  often  appear  in  groups 
in  a  way  that  is  not  easily  accounted  for;  thus,  in  the  gold 
en  age  of  Athens,  Pericles,  Phidias  and  the  three  greatest 
dramatists  of  Greece  were  all  contemporary,  or  nearly  so; 
and  in  the  sixteenth  century,  Shakespeare,  Elizabeth, Wil- 


202  IONIA. 

Ham  of  Orange,  and  Henry  of  Navarre  all  lived  at  the  same 
time  as  Timoleon,  and  it  is  just  as  difficult  to  account 
for  the  genius  of  the  great  poet  of  England  as  of  the 
great  legislator  of  Ionia.  Moreover,  he  had  the  advan 
tage  of  being  schooled  in  adversity,  and  that  of  inter 
course  with  some  of  the  greatest  men  of  his  time,  besides 
the  benefits  of  extensive  travel  and  of  observing  the  man 
ners  and  customs,  the  wrongs  and  sufferings  of  many 
different  peoples,  and  the  difference  between  nations 
which  were  free  and  self-governing,  and  those  which  were 
ruled  by  despots.  In  addition  to  all  this,  he  was  under 
the  care  of  one  of  the  wisest  men  of  his  time,  who  had 
been  his  guardian  from  childhood,  and  who  devoted  him 
self  to  educating  and  forming  his  mind  during  the  years 
of  their  exile.  Without  Aristarchus'  devoted  care  and 
training,  the  young  king  would  never  have  survived, 
or,  having  survived,  would  certainly  not  have  attained 
to  the  wisdom  and  philanthropy  which  distinguished  his 
maturity. 

"Having  said  so  much  to  prove  that  Timoleon  was 
partly  what  circumstances  made  him,  I  shall  proceed  to 
show  you  how  his  great  genius  enabled  him  to  control 
the  circumstances  in  which  he  was  placed,  so  as  to  serve 
his  great  purpose  of  making  his  reign  the  starting-point 
of  a  new  era  of  progress  and  prosperity  for  the  people 
he  was  born  to  rule. 

"When  he  had  driven  the  moguls  from  the  valley,  it 
was  found  that  the  titles  to  all  landed  property  were  in 
the  direst  confusion.  The  heirs  to  many  of  the  largest 
estates  had  disappeared,  and  their  lands  had  been  seized 
by  strangers,  or  bought  for  trifling  sums  from  the  con 
querors,  while  at  the  same  time  many  citizens  returning 
from  foreign  military  service  laid  claim  to  these  lands  by 
right  of  kinship  with  the  former  owners.  Much-  of  the 


TIMOLEON,  THE  LEGISLATOR.  203 

land,  again,  had  been  held  by  the  conquerors  and  tilled 
for  them  by  the  old  inhabitants  as  slaves,  and  the  conse 
quence  of  all  this  confusion  was  that  the  claimants  to  every 
farm  were  many  and  the  difficulty  of  deciding  among 
them  so  great  that  there  was  no  possibility  of  making  a 
settlement  which  should  be  satisfactory  to  all ;  and  to  in 
vestigate  all  the  different  claims  would  have  been  the  la 
bor  of  several  years.  Out  of  this  dire  chaos,  Timoleon 
brought  order  and  harmony  by  issuing  a  proclamation 
that  all  lands  were  to  be  considered  as  belonging  to  the 
crown,  and  that  for  the  five  years  following  his  assump 
tion  of  the  governing  power,  the  holders  of  them  were 
to  occupy  the  position  of  tenants  and  pay  a  yearly  rent, 
which  should  take  the  place  of  all  other  taxes  and  fur 
nish  the  whole  revenue  of  the  state.  Before  the  five 
years  were  up,  the  amount  of  arable  land  had  been 
doubled,  and  as  the  value  of  the  new  farms  was  produced 
solely  by  the  extension  of  irrigation  at  the  expense  of 
the  state,  none  but  the  state  could  claim  any  title  to  them. 
By  that  time,  moreover,  the  principle  of  raising  revenue 
by  a  rent  for  land  had  been  proved  to  have  many  ad 
vantages,  and  the  king  had  the  wisdom  to  change  a  tem 
porary  expedient  into  the  permanent  law  of  the  country. 
"The  Law  of  Inheritance,  which  I  have  set  down  as 
second  of  the  great  tetrad,  was  not  enacted  till  about 
the  twenty-fifth  year  of  Timoleon's  reign,  and  owed  its 
origin,  not  to  any  series  of  accidental  circumstances  like 
the  first,  but  simply  to  the  far-seeing  wisdom  of  the 
king.  The  prosperity  which  resulted  from  his  be 
neficent  rule,  and  especially  from  the  operation  of  the 
land  law,  and  the  vast  increase  of  tillable  soil  which  was 
divided  into  numerous  farms,  instead  of,  as  in  most  coun 
tries,  into  a  comparatively  small  number  of  large  estates, 
was  enjoyed  by  the  whole  people,  with  a  near  approach 


204:  IONIA. 

to  equality.  But  the  increase  of  manufactures  and  the 
development  of  trade  between  the  towns  and  provinces 
threatened  the  accumulation  of  wealth  in  the  hands  of 
a  comparatively  small  number  of  the  people  to  the  loss 
and  degradation  of  the  majority.  To  avert  this  danger 
Timoleon  promulgated  the  Law  of  Inheritance,  of  which 
the  chief  provisions  are: 

"First:  That  no  person  should  be  permitted  to  gain 
possession  by  inheritance  of  more  than  a  certain  fixed 
amount,  which  was  equivalent  to  about  a  hundred  thou 
sand  pounds  of  your  money. 

"Second:  That  heirship  should  be  only  in  the  direct 
line;  that  is  to  say,  children  should  inherit  from  their 
parents  only,  and  not  from  brothers,  cousins,  or  other 
lateral  relations.  In  the  case  of  children  dying  before 
their  parents,  the  latter  might  become  the  heirs. 

"Third:  That  the  power  of  bequest  was  limited  to  a 
fixed  sum,  which  amounted  to  about  fifty  thousand 
pounds  sterling,  in  favor  of  any  one  person. 

"Fourth:  That  all  property  over  and  above  what  the 
law  permitted  to  be  inherited  or  bequeathed  should  be 
long  to  the  state. 

"The  next  of  the  four  great  laws  is  that  which  relates 
to  the  treatment  of  criminals,  and  its  operation  has  been 
so  successful  that  for  a  hundred  years  and  more  it  has 
become  a  deal  letter,  for  the  criminal  class  has  ceased  to 
exist. 

"In  order  that  you  may  understand  the  origin  of  this 
admirable  statute,  I  must  tell  you  that  when  Timoleon 
commenced  his  reign  the  country  swarmed  with  non 
descripts,  who  had  come  in  the  wake  of  the  Mohamme 
dans,  and  whom  their  lax  administration  permitted  to 
live  by  pilfering  and  every  kind  of  crime.  Timoleon 
banished  large  numbers  of  them,  but  when  the  Gates  of 


TIMOLEON,  THE  LEGISLATOR.  205 

Hades  were  closed,  there  were  still  many  of  them  left, 
and  they  increased  like  vermin  in  their  holes,  and  be 
came  an  intolerable  nuisance  to  the  industrious  com 
munity. 

"Believing  that  mercy  shown  to  such  miscreants 
meant  injustice  to  the  public  at  large,  Timoleon  or 
dained  that  every  adult  criminal  convicted  a  second  time 
should  be  punished  capitally,  and  although  this  stern 
measure  reduced  their  numbers  to  a  certain  extent,  the 
jails  were  still  crowded  and  the  numbers  of  those  who 
preyed  on  society  seemed  to  increase  rather  than  dim 
inish,  and  the  difficulty  of  dealing  with  them  caused  the 
king  more  anxiety  and  trouble  than  he  had  experienced 
with  the  Mohammedans  themselves.  Amongst  his  ser 
vants  was  a  negro  eunuch,  who  had  been  presented  to 
him  as  a  slave  by  an  Egyptian  grandee.  This  man  had 
followed  the  king  in  all  his  wanderings,  and  was  very 
much  attached  to  him.  Seeing  his  master  sorely  vexed 
and  troubled  by  the  scum  of  the  community,  he  one  day 
ventured  to  remark: 

"/If  they  were  all  such  as  I  am,  they  would  not 
trouble  your  maje'sty  for  ever.' 

"The  hint  was  sufficient,  and  Timoleon  saw  that  the 
key  to  the  difficulty  was  in  his  hands.  He  called  a 
council  of  physicians,  and  the  result  of  their  delibera 
tions  was  the  embodiment  of  the  law  which  put  an  end 
to  crime  in  Ionia.  It  provided  that  all  convicted  crim 
inals,  male  or  female,  young  or  old,  should  be  subjected 
to  a  surgical  operation  which  deprived  them  of  the  power 
of  procreation.  This  served  a  double  purpose:  it  put 
a  stop  to  their  increase,  and  made  identification  more 
easy  in  case  of  a  second  offence.  Every  opportunity 
was-  -given  to  discharged  prisoners  to  lead  an  honest 
life;  the  extensive  public  works  furnished  employment 


£06  IONIA. 

to  all  who  were  willing  to  work,  but  no  mercy  was  shown 
to  those  who  relapsed  into  crime.  Their  numbers  from 
this  time  rapidly  diminished,  and  before  Timoleon  had 
reigned  for  fifty  years  the  criminal  class  had  practically 
died  out. 

"It  was,  no  doubt,  the  success  of  this  important  meas 
ure  which  suggested  the  last  and  most  beneficial  of  the 
four  great  laws  of  which  I  am  speaking.  Timoleon's 
great  ambition  was  that  his  reign  should  not  only  be 
known  as  a  time  of  peace  and  prosperity,  but  that  it 
should  be  the  starting-point  of  a  career  of  development 
and  progress  for  the  whole  people  which  should  be  last 
ing  as  well  as  thorough.  Having  put  an  end  to  one  class 
of  evils  by  depriving  of  the  rights  of  parentage  those 
who  were  unfit  to  exercise  them,  he  saw  that  there  was 
practically  no  limit  to  the  benefit  which  might  be  ex 
pected  from  the  extension  of  the  same  principle  in  a 
milder  form  to  all  ranks  of  society.  The  subject  was  a 
difficult  one,  and  although  he  had  elaborated  the  idea  in 
his  own  mind,  he  refrained  from  any  attempt  to  carry 
it  into  practice  while  he  remained  on  the  throne.  His 
power  was  absolute,  and  he  could  make  such  laws  as  he 
pleased,  but  in  a  matter  of  such  transcendent  importance, 
where  the  principle  involved  was  so  opposed  to  the 
usages  of  all  nations,  he  preferred  that  the  people  should 
act  for  themselves  through  their  representatives.  At  the 
same  time,  he  was  an  old  man,  and  had  set  his  heart  on 
this  reform  being  inaugurated  while  he  still  lived,  so  he 
laid  it  before  the  senate  at  their  very  first  session  under 
the  new  constitution  which  he  gave  to  the  country. 

"He  prepared  a  very  elaborate  and  earnest  message, 
in  which  he  set  forth  that  the  great  prosperity  which  the 
people  had  enjoyed  during  his  reign  was  owing  in  large 
measure  to  the  fact  that  the  population  was  limited  in 


TIMOLEON,  THE  LEGISLATOR.  207 

proportion  to  the  size  of  the  country,  and  although  the 
land  was  still  abundantly  able  to  support  all  who  were 
then  living,  in  comparative  comfort,  the  time  might  soon 
come  when  this  would  not  'be  the  case,  and  the  people 
would  relapse  into  that  condition  from  which  it  had 
been  his  life-long  endeavor  to  free  them.  They  were 
doubling  their  numbers  every  twenty-five  years,  and  at 
that  rate  of  increase  the  great  mass  would  soon  be  re 
duced  to  poverty,  and  would  become,  to  all  intents  and 
purposes,  the  slaves  of  the  few  who,  by  financial  ability 
and  selfish  greed,  would  be  able  to  control  the  wealth 
of  the  country.  Ignorance  would  go  hand  in  hand  with 
poverty,  and  the  best  school  system  which  could  be  de 
vised  would  fail  to  educate  the  children  of  parents  who 
were  unable  to  find  bread  for  their  families,  for  the  chil 
dren  themselves  would  be  compelled  to  labor  to  help 
support  their  parents.  Early  marriages  and  large  fami 
lies  were  the  rule,  especially  amongst  those  who  could 
lease  afford  these  luxuries,  and  the  result  in  a  few  gener 
ations  would  be  such  as  it  was  melancholy  to  think  of. 

"But  it  was  the  business  of  the  state  to  look  after  the 
well-being  of  the  people  in  the  future  as  well  as  in  the 
present,  and  he  thought  the  state  abundantly  able  to 
ward  off  the  evil  with  which  the  community  was  too 
evidently  threatened.  The  right  of  parentage  should  be 
limited  to  those  who  were  able  to  show  a  reasonable 
prospect  of  supporting  a  family  in  comfort,  and  abso 
lutely  denied  to  all  who  were  physically,  mentally  or 
morally  unworthy  to  become  fathers  or  mothers.  In 
this  way  the  too  rapid  increase  of  population  would  be 
checked  and  the  character  of  the  people  steadily  im 
proved  by  preventing  those  who  were  depraved  in  mind 
or  body  from  reproducing  their  kind.  He  had  prepared 
for  their  consideration  the  draft  of  a  bill  embodying  these 


208  IONIA. 

principles,  and  while  they  might  find  it  necessary  to 
change  some  of  its  details,  he  trusted  to  see  it  in  sub 
stance  become  the  law  of  the  land.  He  was  now  an  old 
man,  and  could  not  live  to  see  the  benefits  which  would 
come  in  time  from  such  a  measure,  but  he  felt  sure  that 
future  generations  would  bless  the  first  senate  of  Ionia 
for  the  establishment  of  such  a  law. 

"And  so  he  laid  before  them  the  law  for  the  regulation 
of  marriages  substantially  as  wre  have  it  to-day,  for  the 
king  was  revered  in  his  own  day,  just  as  he  has  ever 
been  since,  and  his  government  had  been  so  successful  in 
everything  pertaining  to  the  happiness  and  well-being 
of  the  people,  that  they  almost  worshiped  him,  and 
were  ready  to  assent  to  anything  he  desired.  The  senate 
passed  the  bill  without  change  and  without  one  dissent 
ing  vote,  and  steps  were  immediately  taken  to  carry  it 
into  effect. 

"Commissioners  were  appointed  for  every  district, 
each  having  a  staff  of  competent  assistants  of  both  sexes, 
with  power  to  examine  all  candidates  for  marriage  and 
issue  licenses  to  such  only  as  they  found  worthy  accord 
ing  to  rules  framed  for  their  guidance.  The  marriage 
able  age  was  fixed  at  twenty-five  years  in  the  males,  and 
twenty-two  in  the  females.  The  former  were  bound  to 
show  that  they  were  possessed  of  a  certain  minimum  of 
property,  and  that  they  were  masters  of  some  trade  or 
art  which  would  ensure  a  reasonable  prospect  of  ability 
to  support  a  family.  The  commissioners  were  required 
to  have  the  candidates  examined  as  to  physical  develop 
ment  and  health,  mental  capacity  and  character.  They 
were  also  to  enquire  respecting  the  ancestors  of  the 
candidates,  particularly  in  regard  to  hereditary  diseases, 
and  all  forms  of  insanity.  All  extreme  cases  of  dwarfed 
or  stunted  physique,  personal  deformity  or  ugliness, 


TIMOLEON,  THE  LEGISLATOR.  209 


-—particularly  in  die^women.—-  lax  morality  or  mental  in 
capacity,  and  all  drunkards,  were  to  be  peremptorily  re 
jected,  with  a  stern  disregard  to  the  social  standing  or 
wealth  of  the  individuals  aspiring  to  the  wedded  state. 
In  ordinary  cases,  merit  of  one  kind  might  be  considered 
to  offset  deficiencies  in  others,  but  there  were  limitations 
which  could  not  be  set  aside,  and  persons  of  feeble  mind 
or  loose  character,  or  those  having  weak  chests  or  any 
hereditary  disease  were  absolutely  debarred  from  becom 
ing  the  parents  of  the  future  generation. 

"To  this  law  we  attribute  most  of  the  advantages  we 
enjoy  as  compared  with  all  other  civilized  nations,  and 
such  a  law,  if  properly  administered  in  any  country,  will 
rapidly  exalt  its  people  to  a  much  higher  standard  than 
any  other  nation  can  attain  to  under  any  other  system. 

"And  now,  friend  Alexander,  I  have  told  you  in  few 
words  the  secrets  of  our  success,  and  if  you  have  any 
questions  to  ask  in  regard  to  the  practical  working  of 
these  laws  I  shall  be  glad  to  give  you  all  the  information 
at  my  command." 

"I  must  confess,"  said  I,  "that  these  laws  are  admi 
rably  adapted  to  bring  about  the  results  which  their 
founder  had  in  view,  but  it  seems  to  me  that  there  are 
grave  difficulties  in  the  way  of  their  adoption  by  any 
community  I  am  acquainted  with,  and  the  first  and  most 
formidable  of  these  is  in  regard  to  the  marriage  law. 
Any  system  limiting  the  rights  of  wedlock  must  inevi 
tably  lead  to  a  great  increase  of  the  social  evil.  How 
did  the  great  king  contend  with  that  difficulty?" 

"  By  restricting  and  regulating  the  social  evil  so  as  to 
do  away  with  its  worst  features.  He  regarded  the 
women  who  sacrificed  themselves  to  the  community  as 
public  benefactors  and  gave  them  comfortable  accommo 
dation  in  quarters  set  apart  for  their  use.  His  govern- 

14 


210  IONIA. 

ment  protected  instead  of  oppressing  and  harassing 
them,  and  provided  an  asylum  and  a  maintenance  for 
them  in  their  old  age." 

"But,"  said  I,  "when  you  take  away  the  pains  and 
penalties  of  any  particular  form  of  vice,  you  inevitably 
increase  the  number  of  those  who  yield  to  its  seduc 
tions." 

"Undoubtedly,"  replied  Jason,  "but  Timoleon  did  not 
consider  that  an  objection  to  his  system.  His  purpose 
was  that  the  mothers  of  the  nation  should  be  chaste,  not 
merely  from  the  accident  of  circumstances,  but  by  dis 
position  and  principle,  and  the  weeding  out  from  their 
members  of  those  who  were  otherwise  could  not  fail  to 
result  beneficially  in  the  end.  He  regarded  the  social 
evil  as  a  necessary,  but  temporary,  one,  and  the  results 
justified  his  wisdom,  for  it  died  out  altogether  in  about 
a  hundred  years  from  his  time." 

"I  fail  to  comprehend,"  said  I,  "how  that  came  about. 
One  can  understand  how,  from  pure  mothers  only  pure 
daughters  would  be  born;  but  surely  it  must  have  been 
otherwise  with  their  sons." 

"Perhaps  you  do  not  give  sufficient  credit  to  the 
mothers  in  this  respect,  for  their  influence  over  their 
children  is  almost  unlimited.  But  other  influences  were 
at  work  as  well.  Amongst  your  people  it  is  a  common 
saying  that  a  reformed  rake  makes  the  best  husband,  but 
with  us  it  was  different,  for  the  rake  never  had  a  chance 
to  show  what  kind  of  a  husband  he  could  make,  and 
thus  the  morals  of  the  men  kept  pace  with  those  of  the 
women,  or  nearly  so." 

"Then  I  am  to  understand  that  your  people  have 
learned  how  to  keep  the  sexual  passion  under  perfect 
control?" 

"Yes,  and  all  other  passions  as  well.     Our  young 


TIMOLEON,  THE  LEGISLATOR. 

people  are  taught  as  soon  as  they  are  old  enough  to 
understand  it,  that  the  essential  difference  between 
Greeks  and  barbarians  (I  trust  you  will  excuse  my  using 
that  word, — it  is  a  very  old  expression  with  us,  and  no 
offence  is  meant  by  it)  the  source  of  all  our  advantages, 
lies  in  the  fact  that  we  have  subdued  and  dominated  our 
brute  instincts,  while  they  permit  themselves  to  be  con 
trolled  by  them,  and  are  thus  a  prey  to  innumerable  ills 
from  which  we  are  free;  and  being  blind  to  the  results 
of  their  own  folly,  they  blame  their  Creator  for  intro 
ducing  them  to  such  an  evil  world,  or  else  make  lame 
and  paltry  excuses  for  his  supposed  injustice." 

"I  should  have  thought  that,  in  rising  so  far  above  the 
animal  part  of  our  nature,  there  would  be  some  danger 
of  the  race  tending  to  extinction.  Do  the  facts  relative 
to  the  fruitfulness  of  marriages  amongst  you  lend  any 
color  to  this  supposition?" 

"Not  in  the  slightest  degree.  The  marriages  which 
are  not  blessed  with  offspring  are  very  rare  indeed.  A 
rapid  increase  of  the  population  is  not  considered  de 
sirable,  and  as  the  death  rate  is  low,  families  of  two  or, 
at  most,  three  children,  are  looked  upon  as  the  most  de 
sirable,  and  the  latter  number  is  very  rarely  exceeded. 
It  would  be  considered  cruelty  to  subject  any  woman  to 
the  hardship  of  bearing  and  bringing  up  any  greater 
number.  And  you  have  seen  the  results  for  yourself: 
our  women  at  sixty  look  as  fresh  and  young  as  yours  at 
forty,  and  their  beauty  never  entirely  forsakes  them. 

"But  supposing  that  any  signs  of  sterility  should  make 
their  appearance,  the  remedy  would  not  be  far  to  seek. 
A  premium  would  be  put  upon  fertility  just  as  in  early 
days  the  opposite  course  was  sometimes  followed,  and  in 
a  short  time  the  balance  would  be  restored." 

"You  think,  then,  that  there  is  no  evil  which  can  af- 


212  IONIA. 

flict  humanity  for  which  the  remedy  cannot  be  found  in 
your  law  of  marriage?" 

'That  is  my  opinion,  decidedly.  By  its  means  chiefly, 
aided  by  the  other  three  of  the  great  laws  of  Timoleon, 
we  have  banished  crime,  avarice,  idleness,  lust,  intemper 
ance,  insanity,  poverty  and  every  form  of  distress  and 
wickedness,  while  at  the  same  time  we  have  cultivated 
strength,  beauty,  industry,  wealth,  intellect  and  talent 
of  every  kind.  The  tendency  is  constantly  towards  what 
is  higher  and  better, — physically,  mentally  and  morally; 
and  there  is  no  limit  to  the  progress  that  can  be  made. 
We  are  as  far  above  the  people  inhabiting  this  valley  be 
fore  Timoleon's  time  as  they  were  above  the  Fiji  Island 
ers,  and  we  have  no  manner  of  doubt  that  in  three  hundred 
years  more  our  descendants  will  exhibit  powers  of  mind 
and  a  mastery  over  nature's  forces  that  will  leave  us  rel 
atively  as  far  behind.  And  the  advance  will  continue  as 
long  as  the  sun  goes  on  to  shed  its  rays  of  heat  and 
light  and  life  upon  the  globe." 

"And  after  that?" 

"After  that  is  too  far  off  for  me  to  trouble  myself 
about.  Our  posterity  have  millions  of  years  of  sunshine 
before  them,  and  that  is  as  much  of  eternity  as  my  mind 
can  grasp." 

"One  thing  more  I  will  ask  you,"  said  I.  "How  is 
it  that  with  all  your  prosperity  and  the  superabundance 
of  blessings  which  are  within  the  reach  of  all,  your  peo 
ple  retain  such  a  capacity  for  enjoyment?  Perhaps  to 
you  the  question  seems  foolish,  but  it  has  often  been  re 
marked  amongst  us  that  those  who  have  every  luxury 
within  reach  soon  lose  their  capacity  for  pleasure  and 
that  when  they  have  everything  that  the  human  heart 
can  desire  they  at  once  begin  to  discover  imaginary 
troubles,  as  if  they  could  not  exist  without  something  to 


TIMOLEON,  THE  LEGISLATOR.  213 

grumble  about.  But  with  the  lonians  it  appears  to  be 
quite  different:  they  do  not  take  their  pleasure  sadly, 
as  we  English  have  been  said  to  do,  but,  on  the  contrary, 
they  engage  in  every  kind  of  recreation  with  all  the  zest 
of  children  out  for  a  holiday;  pleasure  never  seems  to 
pall  upon  them,  and  they  seem  to  find  enjoyment  in  the 
mere  fact  of  living." 

"Having  spent  so  much  of  my  time  in  Europe,  I  am 
well  aware  of  the  contrast  which  has  struck  you  so  forci 
bly.  The  difference  is  seen  in  the  mere  expression  of  the 
faces,  and  there  are  many  reasons  for  it.  One  is,  doubt 
less,  that  the  cares  and  worries  of  life  sit  much  more 
lightly  upon  our  people  than  upon  yours.  The  fear  of 
want  is  something  unknown  to  us,  while  with  the  ma 
jority  of  your  people  it  is  never  wholly  absent.  Where 
that  is  not  so,  as  in  your  own  case,  there  is  always  the 
consciousness  that  misery,  and  disease,  and  every  form 
of  suffering  are  continually  present  amongst  the  mass 
of  the  people  by  whom  you  are  surrounded,  and  that 
human  life,  as  you  know  it,  is,  on  the  whole,  rather  a 
melancholy  thing,  and  barely  worth  the  living.  With  us 
it  is  altogether  different:  we  know  very  little  of  suffer 
ing  and  nothing  of  the  poorly  requited  toil  which  saps 
the  foundation  of  vitality  and  makes  life  a  mere  endless 
struggle.  We  enjoy  our  work  because  it  is  always  con 
genial,  and  because  it  is  not  too  laborious.  It  does  not 
exhaust  our  energies,  but  leaves  us  plenty  of  strength 
and  inclination  for  intellectual  pursuits  and  every  form 
of  recreation.  Another  reason  is  that  wre  are  taught  to 
observe  the  rules  of  health,  and  look  upon  any  indulg 
ence  prejudicial  to  them  as  both  weak  and  wicked.  Any 
person  who  enjoys  perfect  digestion  and  at  the  same 
time  is  free  from  worry  and  mental  anxiety  finds  a 
natural  enjoyment  in  every  function  of  life.  Where  this 


IONIA. 

is  not  so,  there  is  something  entirely  wrong  in  the  en 
vironment,  and  in  some  way  or  other  the  laws  of  nature 
are  being  violated. 

"But  our  system  provides  against  this  as  against  every 
other  evil  or  misfortune  which  can  beset  mankind.  The 
commissioners  of  marriage  have  the  means  of  learning 
thoroughly  the  character  and  disposition  of  all  candi 
dates.  At  the  present  day,  the  refusal  of  license  is  a  rare 
exception,  but  this  is  simply  because  the  operation  of 
the  law  has  eliminated  all,  or  nearly  all,  unworthy  traits 
from  the  persons  forming  the  community.  Yet  they  are, 
nevertheless,  careful  in  making  their  investigation,  and 
neither  fear  not  favor  stands  in  the  way  of  the  perform 
ance  of  their  duties.  In  the  first  place,  our  books 'of  pub 
lic  registration  show  the  ancestry  of  every  individual  for 
many  generations,  and  anything  worthy  of  note  is  re 
corded  either  for  or  against  each  person  who  has  lived  and 
died  in  Ionia.  In  the  second  place,  the  school  and  college 
records  are  open  to  the  inspection  of  the  commission 
ers,  and  much  can  be  learned  from  them.  For  example, 
V  all  the  boys  at  school  are  taught  boxing,  and  although 
it  is  not  carried  to  a  brutal  extent,  their  personal  cour 
age  is  sufficiently  tested,  and  the  commissioners  take 
care  that  no  coward  shall  ever  be  the  father  of  childrenS 
The  applicant  is  further  required  to  give  an  account  01 
himself  after  leaving  school,  and  inquiry  is  made  as  to 
how  he  has  comported  himself  as  son,  brother,  and  mem 
ber  of  society  in  general.  /Now,  if  any  one  should  be 
found  to  have  a  morose  and  unpleasant  disposition,  it 
would  take  a  great  deal  of  merit  in  other  directions  to 
turn  the  scale  in  his  favor  and  procure  him  the  marriage 
license.^  Thus  you  see  that  there  is  no  defect  of  character 
that  our  system  fails  to  remedy,  and  everything  that 


TIMOLEON,  THE  LEGISLATOR.  215 

stands  in  the  way  of  individual  happiness  or  the  good  of 
society  is  sure  to  be  eliminated  in  course  of  time." 

"You  are  greatly  to  be  envied,"  said  I,  "in  having 
had  the  law  established  amongst  you  for  so  many  gener 
ations  and  justified  by  the  unspeakable  benefits  derived 
from  its  operation,  but  the  difficulty  of  its  adoption  by 
any  people  brought  up  in  liberty  under  a  free  constitu 
tion  seems  to  me  almost  insuperable.  It  would  be  de 
nounced  as  visionary  and  impracticable.  It  would  be 
said  that  the  proposal  to  place  in  the  hands  of  any  body 
of  magistrates  the  power  to  make  a  selection  from 
amongst  the  strongest,  handsomest  and  best  of  the  peo 
ple  to  breed  from,  while  the  rest  were  condemned  to 
celibacy,  would  be  treating  them  too  much  like  cattle, 
and  on  all  sides  it  would  be  denounced  as  an  intolerable 
encroachment  upon  the  natural  rights  of  mankind." 

"We  recognize  the  greatness  of  the  difficulty,"  replied 
Jason,  "and  are  so  far  from  undervaluing  it  that  we 
have  never  made  any  attempt  to  grapple  with  it  our 
selves,  and  if  you  should  recoil  from  the  formidable  task 
no  one  here  will  blame  you,  and  you  have  the  alternative 
of  casting  in  your  lot  with  us  and  enjoying  all  the  bless 
ings  which  fall  to  our  lot.  But  your  statement  of  the 
case  is  far  from  being  correct,  unless  you  mean  it  as  the 
view  which  the  average  Englishman  is  likely  to  take  of 
it.  There  never  has  been  any  such  idea  amongst  us  as 
making  a  selection  of  the  best  specimens  to  breed  from, 
but  simply  a  refusal  of  the  right  to  reproduce  their  kind 
in  the  case  of  those  who  were  clearly  unworthy  to  do  so, 
and  as  these  have  always  been  a  small  minority,  there 
is  very  little  hardship  or  self-denial  required  from  the 
community  as  a  whole." 

"With  regard  to  liberty  and  the  natural  rights  of  man 
you  must  admit  that  these  phrases  are  very  misleading, 


216  IONIA. 

and  calculated  to  undermine  the  very  basis  of  society  if 
insisted  upon  too  strongly  by  the  unreasoning,  undisci 
plined  masses,  as,  for  instance,  in  the  case  of  the  French 
Revolution.  The  Western  nations  are  given  to  making 
a  fetish  of  liberty  and  worshiping  it  as  a  panacea  for  all 
political  ills,  whereas  it  is  merely  a  negative  quality  after 
all,  and  means  no  more  than  the  absence  of  despotism. 
Pure,  unrestrained  liberty  is  only  possible  to  men  in 
a  purely  savage  state,  and  no  advance  in  civilization  is 
possible  without  some  curtailment  of  it.  The  lowest 
savage  enjoys  the  liberty  of  killing  and  eating  his  ene 
mies,  and  his  enemies  comprise  all  other  human  beings 
on  the  earth  except  those  of  his  own  tribe  or  village.  He 
has  the  liberty  of  killing  his  wives  or  his  children  if  they 
displease  him,  and  the  number  of  his  wives  is  limited 
only  by  his  own  individual  strength.  But  as  society  be 
comes  organized  these  natural  rights  and  liberties  are 
taken  away  from  the  individual,  the  number  of  his  wives 
is  reduced  to  a  few,  and  finally  to  one,  and  the  State 
steps  between  him  and  his  family  and  denies  his  right  to 
ill-treat  them.  Similarly  with  regard  to  property,  the 
common  saying  is  that  'a  man  can  do  what  he  will  with 
his  own,'  but  in  civilized  society  that  axiom  is  true  only 
to  a  certain  extent.  The  community  requires  that  roads 
and  bridges  shall  be  built,  that  property  shall  be  pro 
tected  and  the  young  people  educated,  and  every  man  is 
made  to  contribute  of  his  own  to  these  and  a  thousand 
other  necessary  purposes.  With  us  duty  comes  first  and 
liberty  afterwards,  and  as  the  good  of  the  individual  can 
only  be  obtained  through  the  well-being  of  the  whole 
community  we  insist  that  each  member  of  it  must  sac 
rifice  just  so  much  of  his  liberty  and  his  personal  ad 
vantages  as  the  present  and  future  good  of  society  re 
quires.  This  principle  is  recognized  by  all  nations  with 


TIMOLEON,  THE  LEGISLATOR.  217 

any  pretense  to  civilization,  and  we  merely  carry  it  a 
little  farther  than  you  do.  You  say  that  a  man  can  have 
but  one  wife,  and  we  say  that  he  cannot  have  the  one  if 
his  enjoyment  of  that  privilege  will  be  harmful  to  future 
generations.  Is  there  anything  monstrous  or  unreason 
able  in  that?" 

"By  no  means." 

"But  yet  you  despair  of  being  able  to  persuade  your 
countrymen  of  the  advantages  of  our  system." 

"I  must  say  I  have  but  slender  hopes  of  being  able  to 
shake  their  deep-rooted  prejudice  against  such  an  inno 
vation." 

"Well,  it  is  not  for  me  to  blame  you.  On  the  contrary, 
I  feel  relieved  to  think  that  you  are  free  to  remain 
amongst  us  and  become  a  citizen  of  Ionia.  I  have  come 
to  look  upon  you  almost  as  a  son,  and  should  be  sorry 
to  think  of  your  returning  for  good  to  the  unhappy  outer 
world." 

"Your  kindness  to  me  almost  makes  me  hesitate,  and 
yet  my  duty  demands  that  I  should  tear  myself  away 
from  this  earthly  paradise." 

"Why  so?" 

"While  I  despair  of  being  able  to  induce  the  people  of 
England  to  take  steps  in  the  right  direction,  yet  I  cannot 
forget  that  there  are  many  lands  and  islands  of  the  ~sea" 
where  people  of  our  own  blood  are  building  up  new  com 
munities  untrammeled  by  the  ancient  customs  and  su 
perstitions  which  bind  us  to  the  narrow  ideas  of  our  fore 
fathers.  To  them  my  message  must  be  addressed,  and  I 
must  endeavor  to  rouse  them  to  the  conviction  that  hu 
man  life  need  not  always  be  a  record  of  misery  and  fail 
ure,  but  that  on  the  contrary  by  adopting  the  simple  and 
obvious  means  which  your  example  has  proved  and  sanc 
tioned,  any  community  may  enter  at  once  on  a  pathway 


218  IONIA. 

of  progress  and  bid  defiance  to  almost  every  human  ill." 
"Perhaps  you  are  right,"  said  Jason.  "In  a  new  coun 
try  you  might  be  listened  to,  while  in  an  old  one  your 
story  would  be  treated  with  scorn  and  contempt.  And 
if  the  experiment  is  once  made  in  earnest  a  single  genera 
tion  will  show  such  mighty  results  that  the  whole  world 
will  be  compelled  to  follow  suit.  You  are  young  yet 
and  may  live  to  see  the  beginning  of  the  reformation  of 
the  world.  But  you  have  spoken  so  far  of  only  one  of 
our  great  laws,  although  that  is  by  far  the  most  im 
portant.  Have  you  no  question  to  ask  concerning  the 
other  three?" 

C"It  seems  to  me,"  said  I,  "that  the  law  of  marriage 
alone  is  sufficient  for  the  renovation  of  society,  if  carried 
out  fearlessly,  honestly  and  intelligently,  and  yet  the 
others  would  doubtless  be  of  great  help  and  benefit^) 
The  land  law  is  not  entirely  novel  to  us  in  principle.  The 
right  of  private  property  in  land  has  been  much  discussed 
both  in  Europe  and  America,  as  you  are  doubtless  well 
aware,  and  I  have  always  felt  that  those  who  were  op 
posed  to  it  had  the  best  of  the  argument,  although  the 
idea  of  making  its  reversal  a  panacea  for  all  economical 
evils  always  seemed  to  me  absurd.  And  yet  without  it 
anything  like  a  fair  distribution  of  wealth  would  be  im 
possible.  I  am  therefore  prepared  to  advocate  it  as  a 
measure  which  no  progressive  community  can  afford  to 
overlook.  Your  method  of  dealing  with  criminals  com 
mands  my  hearty  admiration,  and  it  appears  so  simple 
and  obviously  effective  that  one  cannot  help  wondering 
that  it  has  not  been  generally  adopted  long"  ago.  If  I 
were  to  criticize  it  at  all  I  should  say  that  it  leans  too 
much  to  the  side  of  mercy.  A  community  which  is  re 
solved  on  making  rapid  moral  progress  has  no  use  for 
deliberate  criminals,  and  I  do  not  quite  see  why  felons 


TIMOLEON,  THE  LEGISLATOR.  219 

who  have  arrived  at  the  years  of  discretion  should  have 
two  chances  for  their  lives.  But  the  law  is  excellent  as 
it  stands,  and  I  would  not  seriously  advocate  changing  it 
unless  it  were  to  include  habitual  drunkards  in  the  scope 
of  its  preventive  operation." 

"An  excellent  idea,"  said  my  friend,  "but  drunkenness 
is  a  vice  which  pertains  more  particularly  to  Northern 
countries.  Our  people  have  never  been  much  given  to 
it,  and  hence  stringent  measures  were  unnecessary. 
"What  do  you  think  of  our  law  of  inheritance?" 
"I  think  it  is  entirely  just  and  equitable.  No  man  can 
fairly  earn  a  million  sterling  during  his  lifetime,  unless  it 
might  be  the  inventor  who,  like  Watt  or  Stephenson,  by 
new  mechanical  contrivances,  enhances  the  efficiency  of 
human  labor  to  a  manifold  degree;  but  these  are  not  the 
men  who  amass  large  fortunes,  and  no  one  grudges 
them  such  reward  as  they  receive.  The  man  who,  by 
manipulating  the  markets  either  of  stocks  or  goods,  and 
by  superior  cunning  amasses  a  colossal  fortune,  has  sim 
ply  filched  from  other  men  a  part  of  the  wealth  they  have 
produced,  and  has  no  more  moral  right  to  it  than  a  pick 
pocket  or  a  house-breaker  to  what  he  steals.  It  is  im 
possible  to  make  laws  to  prevent  men  becoming  rich  by 
trade  or  speculation,  but  when  he  dies  I  think  it  is  per 
fectly  right  for  the  state  to  step  in  and  say:  'It  is  not  for 
the  good  of  the  community  that  one  individual  should 
possess  so  much  while  others  have  none  at  all,  and  the 
greater  portion  of  this  wealth  must  revert  to  the  people  at 
large,  from  whom  it  has  been  taken  without  equivalent 
rendered.'  But  it  appears  to  me  that  the  men  who  have 
been  able  to  outwit  their  competitors  in  the  scramble  for 
money  will  not  fail  to  find  a  way  to  cheat  the  government 
in  the  end.  What  is  to  hinder  such  a  man  from  dividing 
up  his  wealth  before  he  dies,  so  that  when  his  estate 


IONIA. 

comes  to  be  inventoried  it  will  be  found  that  the  members 
of  his  family  are  already  legally  possessed  of  the  great 
bulk  of  his  fortune?" 

'That  indeed  seems  an  easy  way  of  evading  the  law, 
and  our  government  found  it  necessary  to  supplement  it 
by  another  law  which  made  such  transfers  legal  only 
when  they  took  place  twelve  months  before  the  death  of 
the  person  bestowing  the  property,  and  by  a  thorough 
registration  of  all  kinds  of  property  it  was  made  very 
difficult  to  evade  this  enactment.  Then  you  must  re 
member  that  those  who  are  the  most  eager  in  the  acqui 
sition  of  wealth  are  precisely  those  who  are  the  least 
willing  to  part  with  it,  even  to  their  own  kith  and  kin, 
and  as  a  man  seldom  knows  the  date  of  his  death,  it  has 
very  often  happened  that  the  subdivision  of  the  estate  of 
a  millionaire  has  come  too  late  to  cheat  the  public  out 
of  what  the  law  intended  should  revert  to  it. 

"I  speak  of  what  happened  in  the  early  days  of  the  re 
public,  for  we  have  had  no  trouble  on  this  score  for  many 
generations." 

"And  is  that  simply  because  the  people  have  become 
too  honorable  to  endeavor  to  evade  the  spirit  of  the 
laws?" 

"I  think  I  may  fairly  say  that  such  is  the  case  nowa 
days,  but  it  was  not  always  so.  There  was  a  time  when 
the  law  of  inheritance  seemed  about  to  become  a  dead 
letter  in  regard  to  one  section  of  the  community,  and 
then  we  had  to  fall  back  upon  our  marriage  law,  which  is 
omnipotent  in  its  scope  and  purpose.  We  had  a  small 
colony  of  Jews  amongst  us,  who  lived  in  obscurity  in  the 
ancient  capital.  How  they  came  there  no  one  knew, 
but  as  they  are  found  in  all  quarters  of  the  civilized  world 
it  is  not  perhaps  to  be  wondered  at  that  some  of  them 
found  their  way  even  into  Ionia.  The  general  prosperity 


TIMOLEON,  THE  LEGISLATOR.  221 

inaugurated  by  the  reign  of  Timoleon  gave  them  oppor 
tunities  of  which  their  greed  and  their  undoubted  genius 
for  business  enabled  them  to  make  the  utmost.  They 
increased  rapidly  in  wealth  and  numbers,  and  by  the  be 
ginning  of  the  Eighteenth  century  all  the  banking  busi 
ness  of  the  country  was  in  their  hands,  and  it  seemed  as 
if  in  a  short  time  they  would  be  possessed  of  all  the  riches 
of  the  community.  Their  prosperity  made  them  inso 
lent,  and  they  began  to  set  the  laws  at  defiance.  Our 
young  men  became  their  servants  and  our  young  women 
their  mistresses,  and  they  adopted  the  style  of  a  superior 
race,  and  behaved  as  if  the  Greeks  were  born  merely  to 
be  the  slaves  of  their  luxury.  The  law  of  inheritance 
had  no  power  over  them,  for  every  Jew  that  died  was 
found  to  be  without  any  considerable  estate,  and  the  vast 
wealth  they  had  amassed  passed  from  father  to  son  with 
out  the  smallest  contribution  to  the  state,  and  increased 
rapidly  from  generation  to  generation. 

"The  archon  of  that  time  was  a  man  of  the  name  of 
Theophilus,  an  able  and  fearless  ruler.  He  saw  plainly 
that  the  country  was  drifting  to  ruin  if  the  power  and 
wealth  of  the  Jews  could  not  be  curtailed.  To  send 
them  out  of  the  country  was  impossible,  as  there  was  no 
way  of  exit,  and  as  humanity  forbade  a  wholesale  mas 
sacre,  he  resolved  to  limit  their  numbers  by  the  aid  of  the 
law  of  marriage.  Calling  the  commissioners  together  he 
pointed  out  the  danger  which  menaced  the  country,  and 
persuaded  them  to  refuse  all  license  of  marriage  between 
a  Jew  and  a  Jewess.  Either  might  be  permitted  to 
marry  with  persons  of  Grecian  blood,  but  not  with  each 
other.  The  haughty  Hebrews  stormed  and  threatened, 
tried  to  bribe  the  commissioners,  and  did  succeed  in 
bribing  a  number  of  the  poorer  electors  at  the  polls. 
But  all  was  of  no  avail,  and  they  saw  that  they  were  in 


IONIA. 

danger  of  extinction  as  a  separate  race,  and  then  they 
took  the  step  which  sealed  their  doom.  The  archon  was 
assassinated.  This  roused  the  people  to  fury,  and  it  was 
with  difficulty  that  a  wholesale  slaughter  of  the  hated 
race  was  prevented.  A  searching  inquiry  was  made, 
several  of  the  wealthiest  of  the  Jews  were  found  to  be 
accessory  to  the  crime,  and  they  were  executed  without 
mercy.  The  senate  passed  a  law  that  no  person  of  Jew 
ish  blood  should  ever  be  allowed  to  marry  in  Ionia,  and 
so  the  whole  tribe  died  out  and  passed  away  for  ever." 

"But  what  hindered  them  from  marrying  according  to 
their  own  religious  rites  and  having  children  just  as 
much  as  ever?" 

"That  would  be  impossible  in  Ionia.  I  have  not  de 
tailed  all  the  provisions  of  the  marriage  law,  but  merely 
told  you  its  main  features.  It  provided  for  the  case  of 
natural  children,  and  such  all  were  considered  whose 
parents  were  not  publicly  married.  They  were  treated 
as  orphans  by  the  state  and  brought  up  at  the  public 
charge,  inheriting  neither  name  nor  property.  Their 
mothers  were  banished  with  them  to  a  settlement 
amongst  the  hills,  and  never  allowed  to  regain  their  lib 
erty." 


CHAPTER  XI. 
THE  SCHOOLS  OF  IOLKOS. 

Having  explored  the  country  pretty  thoroughly,  Jason 
proposed  that  we  should  spend  some  time  in  visiting  the 
schools  and  colleges  of  the  capital,  and  we  devoted  sev 
eral  weeks  to  this  undertaking. 

It  was  evident  to  me  at  once  that  the  national  system 


THE  SCHOOLS  OF  IOLKOS.  223 

of  education  is  conducted  on  the  most  liberal  scale,  for 
the  ample  space  and  the  splendor  of  the  buildings  de 
voted  to  it  were  far  beyond  anything  to  be  seen  in 
Europe.  Each  edifice  is  a  master-piece  of  architectural 
art,  and  the  adornment  of  the  interiors  by  painting  and 
sculpture  is  such  that  the  taste  of  the  scholars  must  be 
unconsciously  educated  by  mere  attendance  at  their 
classes.  The  ventilation  and  lighting  are  perfect,  and 
care  is  taken  to  prevent  over-crowding,  so  that  there  is 
abundance  of  space  and  pure  air  for  every  pupil. 

The  children  commence  their  schooling  at  the  age  of 
seven,  but  for  the  first  three  years  the  curriculum  is  con 
fined  to  physical  training  and  such  knowledge  as  can  be 
imparted  by  object  lessons.  They  are  taught  dancing 
and  various  forms  of  marching  and  drill,  and  such  mus 
cular  exercises  as  will  conduce  to  the  health  and  vigor  of 
their  little  bodies  without  any  danger  of  over-straining. 
It  was  a  pleasing  sight  to  witness  the  motions  of  a  hun 
dred  little  girls,  all  as  beautiful  in  face  and  form  as  so 
many  fairies,  going  through  what  appeared  to  me  very 
complicated  manceuvers,  stepping  in  time  to  music,  and 
each  little  face  filled  with  eager  delight  in  the  perform 
ance  of  the  pleasant  task.  And  when  anyone  made  a 
false  step  or  moved  in  the  wrong  direction  the  blush  of 
confusion  which  clouded  the  little  face  showed  that  no 
severe  discipline  was  necessary;  the  consciousness  of 
doing  wrong  was  a  sufficient  punishment,  and  the  same 
mistake  would  seldom  be  made  twice.  The  boys  and 
girls  are  taught  together  in  the  dancing  classes,  and  very 
quickly  acquire  the  skill  and  ability  to  go  through  the 
most  difficult  and  complicated  figures  with  grace  and 
ease.  The  children  were  always  dressed  with  great 
taste,  although  plainly;  in  fact,  I  never  saw  a  badly 
dressed  person  in  the  country,  but  these  little  ladies  and 


IONIA. 

gentlemen  performed  their  parts  and  carried  themselves 
with  a  dignity  and  elegance  that  would  have  made  the 
courtiers  of  Louis  the  Great  envious,  and  the  perfect  ab 
sence  of  self-consciousness  which  they  attained  would 
have  been  impossible  in  ill-fitting  or  poorly  made  gar 
ments.  Yet  these  were  not  the  children  of  a  favored 
class,  and  it  was  impossible  to  distinguish  by  dress  or 
demeanor  the  son  or  daughter  of  the  artisan  from  those 
of  the  wealthiest  merchant. 

All  these  exercises  take  place  in  the  open  air  when  the 
weather  is  favorable,  but  when  it  rains  or  when  the 
weather  is  cold,  ample  room  is  found  for  them  indoors  in 
large,  well  ventilated  halls,  which  are  always  kept  at  the 
right  temperature.  The  gymnasiums  are  larger  and 
more  perfectly  appointed  than  anything  I  ever  saw  in 
Europe,  and  from  one  to  two  hours  are  spent  in  them 
every  day  by  all  students  from  the  time  they  enter  school 
till  the  day  of  final  graduation.  Both  boys  and  girls 
enter  into  this  part  of  their  education  with  a  zest  which 
was  exhilarating  to  witness,  and  the  preceptors  have 
more  trouble  in  moderating  their  zeal  than  in  teaching 
them  how  to  learn  the  most  difficult  feats.  Every  muscle 
of  the  body  is  brought  into  play  and  exercised  in  modera 
tion,  under  teachers  who  have  learned  all  there  is  to  be 
known  of  anatomy  and  physiology,  and  this  has  doubtless 
much  to  do  with  the  perfect  health  enjoyed  not  only  by 
the  children  but  by  all  the  inhabitants  of  the  country  as 
long  as  they  live.  The  pupils  are  not  taught  the  alpha 
bet  before  they  reach  the  age  of  ten,  but  their  progress 
after  that  is  so  great  that  boys  and  girls  of  twelve  and 
thirteen  years  know  more  than  most  of  our  undergradu 
ates  at  Oxford  or  Cambridge,  and  I  found  that  many  of 
the  youngest  pupils  at  the  university  were  further  ad 
vanced  in  mathematics  than  our  senior  wranglers.  All 


THE  SCHOOLS  OF  IOLKOS. 

were  able  to  speak  and  write  one  or  more  European 
languages,  and  their  knowledge  of  their  own  tongue  and 
its  literature,  ancient  and  modern,  was  such  as  could  only 
be  paralleled  by  a  genius  like  Macaulay  in  respect  to 
English.  In  botany,  zoology,  geology  and  astronomy 
they  were  equally  proficient.  I  saw  a  class  of  high 
school  boys  at  their  astronomical  lesson,  and  while  I  had 
not  become  sufficiently  familiar  with  their  language  to 
understand  all  that  was  said,  I  could  not  help  admiring 
their  close  attention  and  the  quick  replies  that  were 
given  to  the  teacher's  questions.  When  the  lesson  was 
over  I  asked  Jason  to  explain  to  me  the  chart  which  the 
teacher  had  used  during  the  lesson.  It  appeared  to  rep 
resent  the  solar  system,  but  the  planets  seemed  to  me 
different  in  number  and  proportion  from  what  I  had  al 
ways  understood,  and  I  was  much  puzzled  over  it.  To 
my  astonishment  my  friend  replied: 

"That  was  not  the  chart  of  our  solar  system,  but  rep 
resented  the  planetary  system  of  Sirius." 

"What,"  said  I,  "do  you  mean  to  tell  me  that  these 
children  know  so  much  more  of  our  stellar  universe  than 
all  our  Herschells  and  Proctors  have  ever  dreamed  of 
finding  out?" 

"Naturally  they  do  know  more  in  some  respects,  for 
their  teachers  have  advanced  much  further.  Our  tele 
scopes  are  far  more  powerful  than  any  you  have  in  Eu 
rope,  and  we  have  other  instruments  which  your  scien 
tists  have  not  yet  invented.  Surely  you  are  not  sur 
prised  at  a  little  thing  like  that,  since  you  were  aware 
that  our  people  were  further  advanced  in  all  science  and 
learning  than  any  other  nation?" 

"Theoretically  I  knew  it  to  be  so,  but  this  practical 
illustration  bewilders  me.  I  think  we  may  as  well  stop 
here  in  our  investigation  of  your  educational  system.  I 

15 


226  IONIA. 

feel  no  more  capable  of  appreciating  it  than  a  Hottentot 
would  be  of  grasping  the  instruction  given  in  our  col 
leges  at  Oxford." 

Jason  laughed,  and  said: 

"Your  modesty  makes  you  depreciate  yourself  alto 
gether  too  much.  There  are  many  things  you  know 
more  about  than  we  do." 

"What,  for  instance?" 

"Modern  European  history  and  the  condition  of  the 
various  classes  composing  European  society.  If  you 
should  become  one  of  our  citizens  and  take  up  your  resi 
dence  here  you  will  need  some  occupation  like  the  rest 
of  us,  and  I  have  no  doubt  but  you  will  be  offered  a  pro 
fessor's  chair  in  the  university,  which  I  am  sure  you 
could  fill  with  great  credit." 

"I  am  afraid  you  are  jesting  with  me  in  saying  so,  but 
whether  you  are  or  not,  I  assure  you  that  if  I  should 
come  here  to  stay  the  first  thing  I  should  do  would  be  to 
ask  permission  to  go  to  school  and  take  my  place 
amongst  boys  of  fifteen  or  sixteen,  and  even  then  I  fear  I 
should  be  entirely  out  of  the  running." 

"I  assure  you  that  you  undervalue  your  powers  and 
attainments  altogether  too  much.  But  we  need  not  dis 
cuss  that  question  at  present.  You  spoke  of  cutting 
short  the  investigation  of  our  school  and  college  system, 
but  I  beg  of  you  not  to  entertain  such  an  idea.  You 
have  seen  comparatively  little  as  yet,  and  there  are  many 
things  that  will  interest  you  in  the  university." 

"As  you  will  have  it  so,  we  shall  proceed,  and  I  shall 
do  my  best  with  your  help  to  understand  what  I  see  and 
hear." 

So  we  went  on  from  day  to  day,  following  the  classes 
in  ascending  order,  and  as  my  friend  had  foretold,  I  found 
much  to  admire  and  interest  me.  The  ground  to  be  cov- 


THE  SCHOOLS  OF  IOLKOS. 

ered  was  very  extensive,  for  the  various  buildings  and 
enclosures  connected  with  the  university  covered  several 
square  miles  and  included  all  the  national  art  galleries 
and  museums  situated  in  the  metropolis.  These  are 
open  at  all  times  to  all  the  people,  but  are  intended  for 
the  use  of  the  students  more  especially,  and  every  day 
during  school  hours  the  professors  can  be  seen  with  their 
classes  studying  the  magnificent  collections.  These 
groups  we  frequently  joined,  and  I  had  the  pleasure  of 
listening  to  the  instructions  given  and  was  commonly 
introduced  to  the  -professor  if  occasion  offered.  I  am 
afraid  my  attention  was  more  occupied  with  the  students 
than  with  the  lesson  in  hand,  for  whether  male  or  female, 
the  charm  of  seeing  so  many  handsome,  intellectual  faces 
eagerly  absorbed  in  scientific  problems  or  in  the  study  of 
form  and  color  possessed  an  irresistible  attraction  for  me. 
They  probably  for  the  most  part  knew  who  I  was,  and, 
although  none  of  them  had  ever  seen  a  foreigner  before, 
their  excellent  breeding  forbade  any  scrutiny  of  my  ap 
pearance,  and  I  could  observe  them  without  being  ob 
served  on  my  part. 

The  geological  museum  is  more  extensive  and  com 
plete  than  anything  I  had  seen  elsewhere,  and  this  sur 
prised  me  not  a  little,  for  of  course  the  specimens  were 
gathered  from  many  different  countries,  and  I  was  not 
aware  that  the  lonians  had  been  in  the  habit  of  sending 
out  expeditions  for  such  purposes.  The  same  was  true 
of  the  other  scientific  collections,  which  were  all  very 
complete  and  admirably  arranged.  Another  thing  that 
I  noticed  was  that  with  very  rare  exceptions  the  speci 
mens  were  not  shut  up  in  glass  cases,  but  all  displayed 
openly  on  shelves  or  tables,  which  rendered  their  ex 
amination  much  more  easy  and  more  satisfactory.  This 
could  only  be  done,  of  course,  where  the  atmosphere  is 


228  IONIA. 

entirely  free  from  dust,  and  where  the  utmost  confidence 
is  felt  in  the  honesty  of  every  member  of  the  community. 

The  picture  galleries  are  several  miles  in  extent,  and 
every  painting  is  a  master-piece  which  would  be  almost 
priceless  in  Europe.  The  hall  of  statuary  is  full  of  sculp 
ture  finer  than  anything  else  the  world  has  produced 
since  the  days  when  Athens  was  in  its  ancient  glory.  I 
could  have  spent  many  days  and  even  weeks  in  admiring 
these  magnificent  works,  but  Jason  would  not  allow  me 
to  linger  long  amongst  them  at  that  time,  for  we  had 
other  work  in  hand.  We  spent  a  day  in  the  botanical 
garden,  which  is  a  paradise  of  beauty,  and  contains  living 
examples  of  almost  every  species  of  plant,  flower  and 
tree,  from  those  of  the  tropics  to  the  stunted  specimens 
grown  under  the  arctic  circle.  The  extremes  of  climate 
are  represented  by  different  buildings  heated  or  cooled  to 
the  requisite  temperature,  and  the  students  are  able  to  in 
vestigate  the  varied  species  of  the  vegetable  kingdom 
growing  under  natural  conditions  within  the  grounds  of 
the  university. 

The  school  of  agriculture  is  one  of  the  most  important 
departments  of  the  educational  system,  and  has  a  large 
number  of  thoroughly  trained  scientists  on  its  staff.  Every 
young  man  aspiring  to  be  a  farmer  must  graduate  from 
it,  and  that  means  that  he  must  not  only  have  a  thorough 
knowledge  of  crops  and  soils,  but  also  a  very  thorough 
grounding  in  botany  and  chemistry  as  applied  to  the 
conditions  of  agriculture  in  Ionia.  Several  thousand 
acres  are  utilized  as  an  experimental  farm  by  this  depart 
ment,  with  all  the  necessary  buildings  for  lecture  rooms, 
dormitories  for  professors  and  students,  barns  and 
houses  for  cattle  and  sheep,  etc.  This  is  located  at  a  dis 
tance  of  some  miles  from  the  city,  and  we  visited  it  upon 
several  occasions,  and  found  great  pleasure  in  observing 


THE  SCHOOLS  OF  IOLKOS. 

the  beautiful  order  and  cleanliness  which  prevailed  in  all 
its  details,  the  fine  development  of  the  different  breeds  of 
stock  and  the  attention  given  to  making  every  foot  of 
ground  produce  the  largest  possible  yield  of  the  most 
suitable  varieties  of  grain,  fruit  and  vegetables.  The 
farmer  students  were  young  men  of  splendid  physical 
proportions,  and  although  this  might  be  truly  said  of  all 
the  men  of  Ionia,  yet  I  never  felt  myself  quite  such  a 
pigmy  as  when  following  the  professors  and  their  classes 
through  the  fields  or  stock  houses  of  the  university  farm. 
They  were  all  men  of  six  feet  and  over,  with  the  chests 
and  limbs  of  gladiators,  and  yet  the  most  gentle  man 
nered,  scholarly,  and  refined  set  of  young  men  it  was 
possible  to  imagine.  I  made  the  acquaintance  of  quite 
a  number  of  them,  and  received  more  invitations  to  visit 
them  at  the  homes  of  their  parents,  who  were  mostly 
farmers  in  different  parts  of  the  country,  than  I  could 
have  accepted  if  my  visit  had  been  prolonged  for  several 
years. 

Of  the  schools  of  electricity,  of  engineering,  of  me 
chanical  and  manufacturing  arts,  I  shall  not  attempt 
any  description,  for  it  would  require  a  volume  to  do 
them  justice.  They  are  conducted  upon  the  soundest 
scientific  methods,  and  provide  the  country  with  a  body 
of  thoroughly  trained  artificers  and  mechanics,  masters 
of  arts  in  the  true  sense  of  the  word,  whose  skill  is  to  be 
traced  in  every  department  of  industry. 

Adjoining  the  botanical  gardens  are  the  menagerie  and 
the  aquarium,  both  very  extensive  and  well  managed  in 
stitutions.  The  aquarium  contains  only  such  fish  as  are 
found  in  the  waters  of  Ionia,  but  of  these  not  one  species 
is  lacking,  and  the  numbers  and  variety  are  very  great. 
Many  of  these  have  been  brought  from  foreign  countries 
and  successfully  introduced  to  the  rivers  and  lakes  of 


230  IONIA. 

Ionia,  and  I  recognized  amongst  them  all  the  speckled 
and  other  beauties  of  our  own  island  excepting,  of  course, 
the  salmon,  which  could  not  thrive  at  such  a  distance 
from  the  salt  water.  The  men  who  live  by  fishing  on  the 
shores  of  Lake  Malo  are  all  educated  at  the  university 
of  lolkos,  and  that  is  perhaps  one  reason  why  the  fisher 
ies  never  fail  on  these  waters.  They  are  in  close  touch 
with  the  government,  and  make  it  their  business  to  see 
that  the  supply  is  kept  up  by  the  government  hatcheries, 
and  that  the  young  fish  are  not  molested,  and  the  close 
seasons  carefully  observed.  They  are  a  thriving  com 
munity  and  own  the  stock  in  all  the  great  institutions  for 
curing  and  preserving  the  harvest  of  the  lake,  and  thus 
providing  a  very  important  and  palatable  addition  to  the 
food  of  the  people. 

The  menagerie  surprised  and  delighted  me  by  the  com 
pleteness  with  which  the  animal  kingdom  was  repre 
sented,  and  by  the  fine  condition  and  thriving  appear 
ance  of  the  specimens.  The  cages  are  of  great  size  and  ar 
ranged  so  that  the  animals  live  as  nearly  as  possible  in 
their  natural  state.  The  polar  bears,  for  instance,  have 
a  building  to  themselves,  enclosed  by  double  walls,  and 
kept  at  a  temperature  just  a  little  above  the  freezing- 
point,  and  containing  an  enormous  tank  in  which  they 
find  abundant  exercise,  and  they  grow  to  a  size  which 
makes  them  seem  gigantic  in  comparison  with  those  to  be 
seen  at  our  London  Zoo.  The  monkeys  again  live  in  a 
kind  of  crystal  palace,  which  encloses  a  grove  of  well 
grown  trees,  and  flourish  as  well  as  they  possibly  could 
in  their  native  state.  All  the  other  animals  are  equally 
well  taken  care  of,  and  have  a  sleek  and  comfortable  ap 
pearance  such  as  I  have  never  before  observed  them  to 
wear  in  captivity. 

I  inquired  of  Jason  how  they  managed  to  transport  so 


THE  SCHOOLS  OF  IOLKOS.  231 

many  wild  animals  from  distant  countries,  seeing  that 
they  must  be  brought  in  air-ships,  and  those  only  of  the 
smaller  class,  for  the  largest  vessels  are  not  allowed  to 
leave  the  country. 

"Most  of  the  animals,"  said  he,  "are  captured  very 
young,  and  we  have  little  difficulty  in  breeding  them 
here,  for  we  make  their  captivity,  as  you  have  observed, 
as  pleasant  as  we  can.  But  there  are  limits  to  our  ability 
to  secure  examples  of  the  different  species.  You  may 
have  noticed  that  we  have  no  hippopotamus,  and  only 
three  elephants,  but  with  most  of  the  other  quadrupeds 
there  is  no  difficulty.  Our  young  men  are  very  fond  of 
going  on  hunting  expeditions,  and  if  you  care  to  accom 
pany  one  of  these  you  will  see  that  no  opportunity  is  lost 
of  securing  desirable  specimens  of  young  tigers  and  other 
ferocious  animals,  as  well  as  the  milder  species,  to  add  to 
our  collection." 

"I  should  like  very  much  to  take  part  in  one  of  these 
expeditions,  and  will  embrace  the  first  opportunity  that 
offers.  Are  they  generally  successful  in  securing  large 
game?" 

'They  very  seldom  fail,"  said  Jason,  "for  they  are  al 
ways  under  the  command  of  a  hunter  of  great  expe 
rience,  and  our  method  of  driving  the  game  is  such  as 
never  fails  to  bring  all  the  animals  from  a  large  section  of 
the  country  within  reach  of  the  guns.  It  is  very  exciting 
sport,  and  I  will  see  that  you  do  not  fail  of  an  opportunity 
of  witnessing  or  taking  an  active  part  in  it." 

Meantime  we  continued  our  round  of  investigation, 
and  faithfully  visited  the  class-rooms  as  well  as  the  great 
treasuries  of  art  and  science,  which  belong  to  the  uni 
versity,  but  long  before  we  had  reached  the  higher  grades 
I  found  that  the  students  had  advanced  much  further 
than  I  had  attained  in  my  career  at  Oxford.  We  visited 


232  IONIA. 

a  junior  class  in  astronomy,  and  enjoyed  a  rare,  and  to  me 
quite  unexpected,  treat.  We  entered  the  hall  before  the 
hour  for  the  lecture  to  begin,  and  seated  ourselves  behind 
the  class  so  as  to  see  all  that  passed  without  ourselves  be 
ing  conspicuous.  Presently  the  professor  arrived,  and 
in  a  few  sentences  introduced  the  subject  of  the  day's 
lesson,  which  was  to  be  a  general  review  of  the  fixed 
stars  as  they  appear  during  all  the  various  seasons  of  the 
year.  While  he  spoke  I  was  puzzling  myself  over  the 
shape  of  the  room,  of  which  the  walls  and  ceiling  were 
shaped  like  the  inside  of  a  sphere,  the  floor  occupying  a 
space  rather  below  its  center.  Suddenly  the  lights  went 
out,  and  a  most  extraordinary  transformation  took  place. 
We  appeared  to  be  magically  transported  to  the 
open  air,  with  the  sky  all  around  us,  studded 
with  all  its  stars  and  constellations.  The  illusion  was  so 
perfect  that  I  could  hardly  believe  at  first  that  we  were 
still  in  the  same  room  till  I  had  felt  with  hands  and  feet 
for  the  chair  and  the  floor  in  my  vicinity.  The  sphere 
which  enclosed  us  had  appeared  a  light,  bright  blue  when 
illuminated  from  within,  but  now  that  all  the  light  en 
tered  from  without  through  the  tiny  holes  representing 
the  stars,  it  assumed  the  deep  blue-black  shade  of  the 
sky  on  a  clear,  starry  night.  Delighted  as  I  was  with 
this  beautiful  spectacle,  I  was  still  more  surprised  to  find 
that  the  sphere  was  revolving,  and  that  during  the  hour 
occupied  by  the  lecture  this  miniature  sky  would  mimic 
the  changes  of  the  whole  year  in  the  heavens,  each  month 
being  represented  by  its  movement  during  five  minutes' 
time.  Of  course  the  smallest  stars  did  not  appear  in  this 
artificial  sky,  but  all  those  down  to  the  fifth  magnitude 
were  shown,  and  the  milky  way  and  the  more  prominent 
nebulae  were  indicated  with  wonderful  accuracy.  The 
class  faced  the  north  pole  of  the  sphere,  and  the  pro- 


THE  SCHOOLS  OF  IOLKOS.  233 

fessor  dealt  mostly  with  the  stars  of  the  Northern  hemis 
phere,  but  now  and  again  he  would  direct  the  students  to 
look  the  other  way  while  he  pointed  out  the  glories  of  the 
Southern  constellations.  The  hour  passed  very  quickly 
and  pleasantly,  and  I  felt  sorry  when  the  scene  was 
changed  again  by  the  illumination  of  the  interior  lamps. 
I  requested  Jason  to  introduce  me  and  thanked  the  pro 
fessor  for  the  great  and  unexpected  pleasure  I  had  en 
joyed  as  well  as  for  the  instruction  his  lecture  had  af 
forded  me. 

In  reply  he  invited  me  to  renew  my  visit  as  often  as  I 
could  find  it  convenient,  and  explained  that  the  course 
covered  a  very  thorough  study  of  the  fixed  stars,  and 
also  of  the  motions  of  the  different  bodies  of  the  solar 
system  amongst  the  constellations,  the  sun  and  moon  be 
ing  represented  by  discs  only  faintly  illuminated,  so  as 
not  to  hide  the  light  of  the  stars. 

I  promised  to  avail  myself  of  the  invitation  as  fre 
quently  as  I  could,  and  did  so  upon  more  than  one  oc 
casion  with  never  failing  enjoyment,  and  much  benefit  to 
my  rather  scanty  astronomical  education. 

Upon  another  occasion  we  visited  a  class  of  young 
ladies  engaged  in  the  study  of  English  literature.  The 
lesson  was  already  well  advanced  when  we  entered,  but 
the  professor,  observing  us,  interrupted  the  examination 
by  saying  that  he  hoped  to  give  the  students  the  rare 
opportunity  of  hearing  the  language  which  formed  the 
basis  of  their  studies  spoken  by  a  gentleman  from  Eng 
land,  and  stepping  down  from  the  platform  he  saluted 
Jason  as  an  old  friend,  and  requested  an  introduction  to 
their  distinguished  visitor,  as  he  was  pleased  to  call  me. 
Then,  in  very  polite  and  flattering  terms,  he  requested  me 
to  address  a  few  remarks  to  the  class,  who  would  esteem 
it  a  very  high  and  unexampled  privilege.  My  first  im- 


234  IONIA. 

pulse  was  to  refuse  at  once,  for  I  am  no  orator,  and  al 
though  I  had  sometimes  overcome  my  natural  diffidence 
so  far  as  to  speak  occasionally  amongst  my  fellow-stu 
dents  at  Oxford,  it  was  always  a  great  effort  to  me,  and 
I  had  seldom  attempted  it  without  some  preparation  in 
advance.  But  this  was  a  much  more  formidable  under 
taking.  I  had  to  face  a  company  of  sixty  or  seventy 
young  girls  from  seventeen  to  twenty  years  of  age,  every 
one  of  whom  was  radiantly  beautiful,  which  of  itself  was 
enough  to  drive  all  the  ideas  out  of  the  head  of  a  young 
man;  but  in  addition  to  this  I  knew  that  these  girls  were 
addressed  daily  by  the  most  eloquent  teachers,  and  that 
every  one  of  them  was  vastly  my  superior  in  natural 
powers  and  intellectual  attainments.  But  while  my  heart 
beat  as  if  it  would  choke  me,  and  I  felt  myself  blush  to 
the  roots  of  my  hair,  I  remembered  that  I  represented 
England  there,  and  that  Britons  were  not  in  the  habit  of 
acknowledging  themselves  beaten,  and,  somewhat  to  my 
own  surprise,  I  accepted  the  invitation.  To  give  me  a 
little  time  to  collect  my  thoughts,  however,  I  asked  if 
Jason  might  say  a  few  words  by  way  of  introduction,  and 
we  all  three  ascended  the  platform  together.  My  friend 
paved  the  way  for  me  with  a  few  eloquent  sentences, 
which  I  wished  he  would  extend  to  an  oration,  but  he 
came  to  an  end  very  quickly,  and  the  ordeal  was  before 
me.  I  spoke  very  slowly  at  first,  and  in  a  very  low  voice, 
not  daring  to  look  up  and  face  so  many  beautiful  eyes.  I 
told  them  that  I  felt  myself  in  quite  a  false  position  on 
that  platform,  for  so  far  from  coming  to  Ionia  as  a 
teacher,  I  was  there  in  the  position  of  a  very  humble  and 
modest  learner.  I  spoke  of  their  magnificent  university, 
and  made  some  comparison  between  it  and  my  Alma 
Mater,  and  went  into  some  detail  in  regard  to  the  diffi 
culties  in  the  way  of  women  who  desired  to  attain  a  uni- 


THE  SCHOOLS  OF  IOLKOS.  235 

versity  education  in  my  own  country.  Speaking  of  the 
prejudices  of  some  of  our  most  eminent  professors  on 
this  subject,  I  quoted  the  remark  of  some  crusty  old  don 
about  the  duty  of  women  being  to  attend  to  their  babies 
and  their  husbands'  dinners.  A  ripple  of  laughter  from 
the  class  at  the  absurdity  of  the  speech  caused  me  to  look 
up,  and  perceiving  that  the  young  ladies  were  all  really 
interested  and  sympathetic,  my  nervousness  left  me  all 
at  once,  and  I  was  able  to  make  an  address  of  some 
twenty  minutes'  duration,  and  sat  down  with  the  feeling 
that  I  had  not  altogether  disgraced  myself. 

The  professor  thanked  me  in  very  pleasant  terms,  and 
congratulated  the  students  on  the  lesson  they  had  that 
day  received  in  English  pronunciation,  and  time  being 
up,  dismissed  the  class.  He  then  said  some  flatter 
ing  things  to  me  of  the  satisfaction  he  felt  and  had  al 
ready  expressed  in  hearing  me  speak,  and  went  so  far  as 
to  say  that  if  I  could  be  prevailed  on  to  stay  in  Ionia  my 
services  would  be  greatly  valued  as  a  teacher  in  connec 
tion  with  the  study  of  foreign  languages  and  literature. 

Jason  seconded  him  in  this,  and  they  almost  succeeded 
in  persuading  me  that  I  could  be  of  some  use  in  a  country 
where  all  were  my  superiors  in  nearly  every  respect,  but 
I  could  not  help  thinking  that  they  were  influenced  in 
this  by  their  natural  desire  to  make  things  pleasant  to  me, 
and  assured  them  that  I  should  not  think  of  undertaking 
to  teach  without  a  long  course  of  study,  and  that  for  the 
present,  at  least,  my  duty  required  me  to  relinquish  so 
pleasing  a  prospect. 

I  felt  thankful  that  I  had  come  through  the  ordeal  of 
addressing  the  students  so  satisfactorily,  but  admon 
ished  Jason  on  the  subject,  and  adjured  him  not  to  allow 
me  to  be  caught  in  such  a  position  again. 

We  continued   our  course   of  investigation,   however, 


236  IONIA. 

and  before  we  had  finished  I  obtained  a  pretty  good  idea 
of  the  work  accomplished  in  the  university,  and  the  high 
standard  of  attainments  required  from  the  students. 
There  is  no  school  of  law  in  the  university,  and  none  of 
divinity.  Neither  is  there  any  school  of  medicine,  but 
the  department  of  health  is  a  very  important  one,  em 
bracing  an  exhaustive  course  "of  study  in  physiology, 
anatomy  and  hygiene  for  all  the  students,  but  more  espe 
cially  for  the  ladies,  who,  in  having  the  care  of  the  chil 
dren  as  part  of  their  future  work,  are  expected  to  lay  the 
foundations  of  robust  and  healthy  living  for  all.  There 
are  few  physicians  in  the  country,  for  there  is  but  little 
need  for  them,  but  those  who  do  resolve  to  adopt  that 
profession  have  to  study  for  five  years  beyond  the  usual 
course,  and  must  become  not  only  doctors  of  health,  but 
also  masters  of  surgery,  and  the  curriculum  is  so  severe 
that  none  but  the  few  who  are  specially  gifted  in  that  di 
rection  ever  undertake  it. 

The  study  of  music  fills  a  large  part  of  the  educational 
course  of  the  young  people,  and  its  practice  and  enjoy 
ment  provide  much  more  of  the  entertainment  of  their 
after  lives  than  is  the  case  with  any  other  nation.  I 
never  found  any  of  them  deficient  in  musical  apprecia 
tion,  and  the  great  majority  of  them  would  be  considered 
as  gifted  performers  amongst  us.  All  the  children  are 
trained  in  singing,  and  almost  without  exception  take 
great  delight  in  it.  In  the  university,  music  is  not  com 
pulsory,  although  the  great  majority  of  the  students  de 
vote  a  portion  of  their  time  to  it,  but  its  higher  depart 
ments  are  open  only  to  those  having  special  ability.  As 
there  are  several  thousand  students  embraced  in  the 
various  classes  there  is  material  amongst  them  for  the 
formation  of  the  finest  choruses  and  orchestras,  and  the 


THE  SCHOOLS  OF  IOLKOS.  237 

pleasure  of  hearing  their  rehearsals  was  vastly  greater 
than  anything  I  had  ever  experienced  in  Europe. 

I  may  mention  here  a  custom  which  is  without  parallel 
in  any  other  part  of  the  world,  so  far  as  I  know,  and 
which  provides  a  means  for  the  diffusion  of  knowledge 
in  the  higher  walks  of  science  and  art,  and  shows  how 
much  the  lonians  appreciate  purely  intellectual  pleas 
ures.  During  the  college  season,  which  extends  through 
nine  months  of  the  year,  the  chief  professors  hold  recep 
tions  in  the  halls  of  the  university,  each  one  having  his 
special  evening  during  the  week.  More  than  one  are 
given  on  the  same  evening,  and  in  one  building  the  pro 
fessor  of  botany  entertains,  in  another  the  professor  of 
music  or  of  architecture;  the  next  evening  the  professors 
of  geology,  of  electricity  or  of  painting,  take  the  places 
of  the  first,  so  that  during  the  week  every  branch  of 
learning  has  its  turn.  These  receptions  are  open  to  all 
the  people,  and  are  very  well  attended,  the  visitors  form 
ing  groups  and  discussing  such  subjects  as  they  please, 
but  as  each  particular  branch  of  learning  has  its  votaries, 
there  is  generally  a  large  number  assembled  who  are 
capable  of  taking  part  in  the  most  interesting  discussions 
in  regard  to  the  science  or  art  of  which  the  host  of  the 
evening  is  the  public  representative,  and  the  result  is  that 
the  latest  views  and  discoveries  in  each  are  thoroughly 
digested  at  these  assemblies,  and  in  this  way  the  people 
keep  abreast  of  the  steady  march  of  learning. 

I  once  listened  to  a  most  interesting  controversy  on 
the  duration  of  the  last  glacial  epoch,  in  which  the  prin 
cipal  speakers  were  the  professor  of  geology  and  a  young 
gentleman  of  thirty  who  seemed  to  have  made  a  most 
thorough  study  of  the  subject,  and  upheld  his  side  of  the 
argument  with  great  ability  and  eloquence,  although  de 
ferring  with  much  tact  and  modesty  to  the  professor's 


£38  IONIA. 

High  reputation  and  learning.  I  afterwards  inquired  of 
Jason  who  the  young  man  was,  and  he  told  me  he  was  a 
working  ship-builder  in  the  employ  of  our  friend  Leoni- 
das  Van  Tromp,  and  that  he  was  as  good  a  workman  as 
he  had  proved  himself  a  student  of  science.  Such  cases 
are  not  exceptional,  but  occur  at  every  one  of  these  as 
semblies,  and  no  one  is  surprised  to  find  in  a  mechanic  a 
consummate  art  critic  or  a  profound  scholar. 

During  all  these  receptions  the  splendid  music  hall  of 
the  university  is  open  and  choral  and  instrumental  music 
of  the  highest  order  is  rendered  by  the  students,  each 
chorus  and  orchestra  furnishing  the  entertainment  for 
one  evening,  and  providing  the  most  superb  soloists  from 
amongst  their  number.  The  performers  occupy  a  high 
gallery  at  one  end  of  the  hall,  and  are  not  individually 
visible.  The  attendance  is  always  large,  and  the  audi 
ence  listen  in  respectful  silence.  Neither  talking  nor  en 
coring  are  indulged  in,  and  even  applause,  although 
sometimes  irrepressible,  is  never  encouraged  nor  allowed 
to  delay  the  programme  of  the  evening. 

In  connection  with  the  school  of  health  we  visited  the 
dissecting  rooms,  where  a  number  of  young  men  were 
busy  at  their  examination  of  various  portions  of  the 
human  anatomy.  I  asked  Jason  where  they  obtained 
their  subjects  in  a  country  where  there  were  neither 
criminals  nor  paupers,  and  he  said,  in  reply: 

"We  do  not  care  what  becomes  of  our  bodies  after  we 
are  done  with  them.  Sanitary  law  requires  that  they 
should  be  reduced  to  their  original  elements  as  soon  as 
possible,  and  cremation  is  the  almost  universal  rule,  but 
if  a  man  (or  a  woman,  either,  for  that  matter,)  can  be  of 
any  service  after  he  is  dead,  what  can  be  more  natural 
than  that  he  should  bequeath  his  body  to  the  cause  of 
science.  When  a  man  is  married  his  wife  or  children 


THE  SCHOOLS  OF  IOLKOS.  239 

would  not  like  to  have  his  remains  so  treated,  but  where 
there  are  no  such  near  relations,  there  can  be  no  objec 
tion;  nevertheless,  except  where  the  subject  has  ex 
pressly  donated  his  body  before  death,  it  is  always  cre 
mated,  and  yet  the  students  never  lack  for  subjects." 

"If  anybody  should  make  such  a  disposition  of  his  re 
mains  in  England,"  said  I,  "he  would  be  considered  little 
better  than  a  monster  in  human  form." 

"The  feeling  is  natural,"  replied  Jason,  "and  yet  it  is 
only  a  superstition  after  all,  and  the  desire  to  help  the 
cause  of  science,  even  after  one  is  dead,  is  altogether  ra 
tional  and  laudable." 

The  last  of  the  institutions  connected  with  the  uni 
versity  to  be  visited  was  the  hospital.  This  is  situated 
on  a  hill  some  miles  below  the  city,  rising  steeply  from 
the  lake,  and  with  quite  a  deep  valley  between  it  and  the 
higher  mountains,  a  situation  which  procures  it  the 
freshest  ozone-laden  breezes  from  all  sides.  Like  all  the 
other  public  institutions  of  the  country,  it  is  palatial  in 
structure,  and  of  very  great  extent.  There  are  two  sep 
arate  buildings,  one  of  three  hundred  by  a  hundred  and 
fifty  feet,  and  the  other  two  hundred  feet  long  by  a  hun 
dred  and  fifty  feet  wide.  Both  are  surrounded  by  pretty 
flower  gardens,  and  a  handsome  colonnade  surrounds 
each  on  all  the  four  sides,  so  that  the  convalescent  pa 
tients  have  ample  opportunity  for  walking  or  resting  in 
the  sun  or  the  shade,  according  to  the  season  and  the 
strength  to  which  they  may  have  attained.  Each  build 
ing  is  four  stories  high;  wide  halls  occupy  the  center  of 
each  floor;  every  room  is  an  outside  one,  with  spacious 
views  of  mountain  or  lake  from  every  window.  The 
larger  building  is  devoted  to  cases  of  child-birth,  and  the 
smaller  to  those  of  a  general  character,  and  while  the 
former  is  generally  pretty  well  occupied,  the  latter  is 


240  IONIA. 

seldom  more  than  half  filled.  No  payment  is  accepted 
from  any  patient  whatsoever,  so  that  no  one  need  ever 
feel  any  compunction  in  accepting  the  benefits  of  the 
hospital,  and  although  a  majority  of  the  inmates  belong 
to  the  least  wealthy  class,  it  is  not  at  all  uncommon  for 
well-to-do  people  to  take  advantage  of  the  magnificent 
accommodation  which  the  hospital  affords.  Visitors  are 
not  allowed  in  the  ladies'  hospital  unless  they  are  mem 
bers  of  the  family  of  the  patient,  or  very  intimate  friends, 
so  our  inspection  was  confined  to  the  other  building. 
With  one  of  the  doctors  for  a  guide  we  visited  many  of 
the  rooms,  which  were  all  large  and  airy,  having  walls 
and  ceiling  painted  in  light,  creamy  tints,  with  tasteful 
ornamentation,  devoid  of  all  glaring  or  violent  effects; 
the  windows  beautifully  draped  with  flowers  and  delicate 
creeping  plants,  made  to  grow  on  pretty  movable  frames 
surrounding  them;  double  shades  which  could  be  ar 
ranged  to  admit  the  exact  quality  and  amount  of  light 
desired;  handsome  beds  of  bright  aluminum;  comfort 
able  easy  chairs  and  lounges;  luxurious  rugs  on  highly 
polished  floors;  such  were  the  furnishings  of  all  the 
rooms,  and  they  seemed  fit  for  the  accommodation  of 
princes. 

But  what  made  the  lot  of  the  patients  appear  truly 
enviable  was  that  each  was  waited  on  by  a  beautiful 
young  nurse,  arrayed  in  a  becoming  dress  of  soft  pearl- 
gray,  moving  about  with  light,  noiseless  step,  and  with 
deft  hands  arranging  pillows  and  ministering  to  every 
W7ant  before  it  could  be  realized.  These  are  the  young 
ladies  of  the  university,  who  have  to  serve  for  three 
months  as  hospital  nurses  to  finish  the  university  course. 
There  are  enough  of  them  to  provide  four  nurses  to  each 
patient,  the  day  and  night  being  divided  into  as  many 
equal  parts,  so  that  each  has  a  spell  of  six  hours  duty, 


THE  SCHOOLS  OF  IOLKOS.  241 

with  eighteen  for  rest  and  recreation.  In  addition  to  the 
student  nurses,  there  are  a  number  of  matrons  attached 
to  the  hospital,  whose  business  it  is  to  instruct  the  young 
ladies  in  their  duties  and  give  special  assistance  in  diffi 
cult  cases.  But  I  saw  no  symptoms  of  awkwardness  or 
inattention  on  the  part  of  the  young  nurses,  nor,  judging 
by  the  expression  of  their  faces,  did  the  work  seem  dis 
tasteful  to  them:  a  divine  pity  for  the  suffering  of  their 
patients  seemed  to  possess  them  all,  and  the  grace  and 
beauty  which  characterized  each  one  gave  them  the  ap 
pearance  of  ministering  angels. 

The  doctor  knocked  quietly  at  each  door  which  he 
proposed  to  have  us  enter,  unless  where  it  happened  to 
be  open,  and  a  soft-spoken  colloquy  passed  between  him 
and  the  nurse  before  we  were  admitted.  Sometimes  the 
patients  were  well  enough  to  converse  with  us,  and  they 
all  appeared  highly  pleased  with  our  visit.  Each  spoke 
enthusiastically  of  the  hospital  and  the  treatment  they 
had  received  in  it,  and  some  of  them  even  seemed  to  be 
sorry  they  were  getting  well  and  would  have  to  leave  it 
soon. 

Our  guide  tapped  at  the  door  of  one  room  whose  oc 
cupant  was  a  young  man  who  had  sustained  a  serious 
injury  in  making  some  chemical  experiments.  In  a 
moment  it  was  noiselessly  opened,  and  as  the  nurse  whis 
pered  to  the  doctor  that  her  patient  had  just  fallen  into 
a  quiet  sleep,  we  refrained  from  entering,  and  passed  on. 
I  had  just  caught  a  glimpse  of  the  face  of  the  sleeper, 
which  was  very  pale  and  emaciated,  and  a  few  inches 
over  his  head  hung,  suspended  from  a  rubber  tube,  a 
cone  of  metal,  the  use  of  which  I  was  somewhat  puzzled 
over.  I  asked  the  doctor  what  it  was  for,  and  he  said 
he  would  explain  it  to  me  as  soon  as  we  came  to  an  un- 

16 


242  IONIA. 

occupied  room.  This  was  not  far  to  seek,  and  I  was 
told  to  take  the  place  of  a  patient  in  the  bed. 

"Now,"  said  the  doctor,  "I  place  this  cup  over  your 
head.  What  do  you  feel?" 

"Nothing  at  all." 

"Well,  suppose  you  feel  hot  and  tired  and  restless,  and 
wish  to  sleep  but  cannot;  I  turn  this  little  stop,  and  what 
is  the  result?" 

"A  most  delicious  zephyr  gently  fans  my  face  and 
head,  bearing  in  its  cool  breath  the  scent  of  a  thousand 
flowers.  One  could  go  to  sleep  under  its  influence  and 
dream  of  heaven." 

"And  now,"  said  the  doctor,  "suppose  your  head  aches 
and  your  temples  throb  with  pain  and  fever;  I  make  a 
little  adjustment,  and  what  do  you  find?" 

"A  cool  stream  of  air  flowing  past  my  temples,  which 
I  am  sure  would  cure  any  headache  ever  I  experienced." 

"That  is  about  all  that  this  little  apparatus  can  do," 
said  the  doctor. 

"And  that  is  a  great  deal,"  said  I.  "But  tell  me  by 
what  miracle  of  chemistry  you  manage  to  infuse  the 
scents  and  the  balmy  freshness  of  the  woods  and  the  hills 
through  this  rubber  tube?" 

"By  no  miracle  of  chemistry,  but  by  a  very  simple 
mechanical  device.  Not  more  than  seven  miles  from 
here,  as  the  crow  flies,  is  a  little  valley  noted  for  the 
multitude  and  the  fragrance  of  its  wild  flowers  and  sur 
rounded  on  all  sides  by  pine  woods,  so  that  its  atmos 
phere  is  laden  with  sweetness  and  health.  The  man 
agers  of  the  hospital  have  built  a  little  house  there  with 
fine  wire  screens  on  all  sides,  in  place  of  windows,  to 
prevent  the  ingress  of  insects,  and  from  its  interior  the 
air  is  pumped  through  aluminum  tubes  to  this  place.  It 
is  received  in  a  reservoir  built  on  the  roof,  where  the 


THE  SCHOOLS  OF  IOLKOS.  243 

temperature  is  regulated,  and  from  there  it  is  conveyed 
to  every  room  in  the  house.  The  flow  is  constant  day 
and  night,  and  the  patients  breathe  it  constantly,  but  as 
you  have  seen,  it  is  a  very  simple  matter  to  make  local 
application  of  it  when  desirable." 

The  doctor  now  invited  me  to  inspect  the  rooms  in 
the  upper  story,  which  were  reached  by  a  commodious 
elevator  in  the  center  of  the  building.  We  found  there 
a  spacious,  airy  and  handsomely  furnished  room,  where 
convalescents  lounged  and  talked  and  read,  or  admired 
the  glorious  views  of  mountain  and  lake,  which  could  be 
seen  from  the  windows.  There  was  also  a  fine  billiard 
room,  and  another  devoted  to  cards  and  chess,  in  all 
of  which  we  found  the  patients  cheery,  chatty  and  full 
of  the  enjoyment  of  returning  health.  Last  of  all  we 
examined  the  kitchen,  which  was  also  on  the  highest 
floor.  A  perfect  palace  of  a  kitchen, — marble  floors, 
snowy  tables,  brightly  burnished  stoves,  heated  by 
electricity,  at  which  a  number  of  handsome  women  in 
dresses  of  spotless  white  were  preparing  all  kinds  of 
delicate  dishes  to  tempt  feeble  appetites.  It  was  near 
dinner  time,  and  there  was  a  great  deal  of  bustle  and 
activity,  but  without  noise  or  confusion ;  order  and  clean 
liness  prevailed,  and,  judging  by  the  savory  odors  of 
soups  and  other  dishes  which  were  being  prepared  for 
serving,  there  needed  no  male  chef  to  teach  these  deft^ 
fingered  ladies  their  trade.  The  doctor  invited  us  to 
dine  with  him,  and  we  partook  of  a  banquet  of  which  the 
dishes  were  fit  to  be  served  up  to  the  gods.  We  were 
not  wearied  with  infinite  variety,  but  everything  was 
exquisite  in  quality  and  exquisitely  cooked.  I  had  been 
struck  with  the  excellence  of  the  cuisine  at  the  table  of 
my  host,  but  I  found  that  here  and  everywhere  else  in 
Ionia  the  science  of  cookery  was  carried  to  the  highest 
point  of  perfection. 


244  IONIA. 


CHAPTER    XII. 
A  MODERN  CRCESUS. 

The  marriage  of  Leda  Delphion  to  Leonidas  Van 
Tromp  was  a  very  brilliant  affair.  The  archon  himself 
officiated,  which  of  itself  gave  much  eclat  to  the  cere 
mony,  especially  as  he  has  only  twice  before  honored 
bride  and  groom  in  the  same  way.  Any  magistrate  in 
the  country  can  perform  the  marriage  ceremony  and  no 
publicity  necessarily  attaches  to  it,  for  it  can  be  done  at 
any  place  and  time.  The  important  thing  is  to  get  the 
license,  and  when  that  is  obtained  the  rest  is  mere  matter 
of  form.  The  temple  of  music,  however,  is  generally 
chosen  for  marriages,  and,  just  as  with  us,  music  and 
flowers  are  employed  to  lend  their  aid  to  the  rejoicing 
natural  to  such  occasions. 

The  temple  was  nearly  filled  with  a  gaily-dressed 
crowd  when  Leda  arrived,  surrounded  by  the  members 
of  her  family;  the  great  organ  filled  the  hall  with  joyous 
music  as  we  walked  down  to  the  farther  end, — the  bride 
first,  on  her  father's  arm,  followed  by  the  lady  Helen  and 
myself,  with  Dion  and  Eurydice  bringing  up  the  rear. 
On  a  platform  slightly  raised  sat  the  venerable  archon 
in  his  purple  robes,  the  space  around  him  having  been 
converted  into  a  veritable  bower  of  roses. 

The  bride  and  the  members  of  her  family  seated  them 
selves  on  the  front  row  of  seats  on  the  archon's  right, 
the  bridegroom  and  his  father  and  mother  and  the  beau 
tiful  Daphne  occupying  the  corresponding  places  on  the 
left.  Immediately  behind  were  the  young  unmarried 
friends  of  each, — the  ladies  behind  the  bride,  and  the 


A  MODERN  CRCESUS. 

gentlemen  opposite.  After  a  short  pause,  the  organ 
commenced  a  choral  symphony,  in  which  first  the  girls 
sang  alone  and  afterwards  the  men,  then  both  together 
in  delightful  concord.  I  thought  it  the  finest  piece  of 
choral  music  I  had  yet  heard.  It  was  composed  by  the 
master,  Theseus,  expressly  for  this  occasion.  The  words 
were  not  new,  but  full  of  poetry  and  beautifully  expres 
sive  of  the  felicitous  wishes  natural  to  the  circumstances. 
I  felt  that  even  so  modest  a  man  as  Leonidas  ought  to 
be  able  to  cast  off  his  natural  shyness  under  the  influ 
ence  of  such  poetry  and  such  music. 

The  ceremony  was  very  similar  to  our  English  mar 
riage  service.  The  archon  rose  as  soon  as  the  singing 
was  over,  and  in  a  clear,  distinct  voice,  stated  that  they 
were  assembled  to  celebrate  the  marriage  of  his  dear 
young  friends — Leda  Delphion  and  Leonidas  Van 
Tromp — whom  he  requested  to  approach  and  stand  be 
fore  him.  When  they  had  taken  their  places  side  by  side, 
he  read  from  a  book  certain  passages  appointed  by  the 
government  for  the  ceremony,  setting  forth  the  great 
responsibility  of  the  parties  to  a  marriage  contract  in 
view  of  their  probable  relation  to  future  generations,  but 
comforting  them  with  the  assurance  that  the.  Slate  itself 
had  weighed  them  in  the  balance  of  its  judgment  and 
declared  them  worthy  of  the  great  trust  which  they  were 
about  to  accept.  The  reading  did  not  occupy  more  than 
five  minutes,  but  the  effect  was  most  solemn  and  im 
pressive.  Closing  the  book,  Minos  said  that  he  had 
known  the  bride  and  groom  all  their  lives,  and  their 
families  for  the  best  part  of  a  century,  and  that  he  was 
glad  to  unite  so  worthy  a  couple  in  marriage.  Then, 
addressing  each  by  name,  he  intimated  that  if  they  loved 
each  other  with  their  whole  hearts  and  wished  to  take 
other  for  husband  and  wife  as  long  as  life  lasted, 


246  IONIA. 


they  should  join  hands  before  him,  and  when  they  had 
done  so,  he  pronounced  them  man  and  wife.  Then 
stepping  down,  he  shook  hands  with  both  and  congratu 
lated  them,  kissing  the  bride's  forehead.  The  organ 
broke  forth  in  a  glorious  wedding  march,  and  the  bridal 
party  proceeded  by  a  side  door  to  an  elevator,  which 
took  us  all  to  the  roof  of  the  building,  where  an  air-ship 
stood  waiting.  It  was  very  handsome  outside,  having 
been  built  for  the  occasion,  but  the  glimpse  I  caught  of 
its  interior  showed  that  it  was  splendidly  upholstered  in 
pale  rose-silk,  and  the  friends  had  almost  filled  it  with 
beautiful  flowers.  The  young  couple  having  made  their 
adieux,  stepped  inside  and  flew  off  through  the  air  to 
enjoy  their  honeymoon.  A  delightful  dinner  party  at 
the  Delphions  wound  up  the  clay  very  pleasantly,  and 
prevented  the  beautiful  mother  from  realizing  that  she 
had  lost  her  still  more  beautiful  daughter,  for  the  time 
being,  at  least. 

Invitations  to  dinner  and  receptions  came  thick  and 
fast  to  the  Delphion  mansion  at  this  time,  and  as  my 
name  was  always  included,  my  host  affirmed  that  the 
motive  in  most  cases  was  simply  to  see  what  an  Eng 
lishman  was  like.  I  contended  that,  as  he  had  retired 
permanently  from  his  labors  in  foreign  fields,  it  was 
natural  that  his  numerous  friends  should  desire  to  re 
new  their  old  acquaintance  with  him,  and  I  was  in 
cluded  only  out  of  natural  politeness,  but  I  sus 
pect  that  curiosity  in  regard  to  the  appearance  and 
manners  of  an  English  barbarian  had  a  good  deal 
to  do  with  the  invitations,  for  they  were  so  nu 
merous  that  it  was  quite  impossible  to  accept  more 
than  a  small  proportion  of  the  hundreds  that  were  re 
ceived.  We  spent  a  great  many  evenings  out,  however, 
both  in  town  and  country,  for  the  speed  of  aerial  travel- 


A  MODERN  CRCESUS.  247 

ing  made  a  journey  of  thirty  or  forty  or  even  fifty  miles 
a  very  slight  difficulty.  I  never  failed  to  enjoy  the  so 
ciety  of  the  lonians,  and  as  I  had  made  considerable 
progress  in  their  language,  was  able  to  take  a  part  in 
all  the  conversation  that  was  going  on,  and  would  have 
had  to  take  the  lion's  share  in  it  against  my  own  will 
if  I  had  not  had  friend  Jason  to  help  me  out  in  answer 
ing  questions  in  regard  to  foreign  countries  and  peoples. 
He  was  such  a  wonderful  conversationalist  and  had  such 
vast  stores  of  information  about  everything  under  the 
sun  that  it  was  always  easy  to  get  him  to  talk  by  refer 
ring  some  question  to  him,  or  asking  him  to  corroborate 
my  opinion  on  any  point  under  discussion,  and  once 
under  the  spell  of  his  eloquence  our  friends  would  for 
get  to  question  the  little  barbarian. 

We  visited  many  beautiful  houses,  sumptuously  fur 
nished  and  adorned  with  masterpieces  of  painting  and 
sculpture,  but  few  of  them  built  on  so  extensive  a  scale 
as  the  country  houses  of  our  English  nobility.  There 
was  one,  however,  which  surpassed  them  all  in  magnifi 
cence,  and  that  was  the  house  of  a  wealthy  merchant  of 
lolkos,  named  Theophilus  Myron.  He  was  about  to 
give  a  children's  party  on  the  occasion  of  his  daughter's 
twelfth  birthday,  and  wrote  to  the  Delphions  asking 
them  to  come  and  bear  him  company  along  with  one  or 
two  other  old  friends.  Jason  told  me  that,  as  a  rule, 
it  was  difficult  for  people  who  were  very  wealthy  to  in 
duce  visitors  to  come  to  their  houses,  for  anything  like 
ostentation  was  looked  upon  as  vulgar,  but  that  this 
gentleman's  place  was  so  well  worth  seeing  that  on  my 
account  he  was  in  favor  of  accepting  this  invitation, 
especially  as  Theophilus  was  really  a  very  genial  and 
intellectual  man,  and  far  too  sensible  to  assume  any 
airs  on  account  of  his  superior  wealth.  So  it  was  ar- 


IONIA. 

ranged  that  we  should  all  go  to  the  dinner,  except  Eury- 
dice,  who  positively  declined,  and  said  she  would  take 
the  opportunity  of  visiting  her  parents  on  that  day,  as 
she  had  not  seen  them  for  some  time. 

On  the  day  appointed,  which  happened  to  be  Sunday, 
we  set  out  in  the  same  air-ship  which  brought  me  into 
the  country, — Jason,  and  the  lady  Helen  and  myself,  with 
Dion  as  engineer  and  conductor. 

Our  way  took  us  down  over  the  lake:  it  was  a  bright 
December  day,  and  we  started  about  noon  with  a  favor 
ing  breeze  and  a  bright  sun,  although  there  were  some 
heavy  clouds  in  the  sky.  We  had  pursued  our  flight  for 
but  a  few  minutes  when  suddenly  we  rushed  into  the 
midst  of  a  most  terrific  storm :  first  a  blast  of  wind  struck 
the  vessel,  and  made  it  roll  like  a  ship  at  sea;  then  a 
shower  of  hail  fell  upon  it  with  a  noise  like  the  fire  of 
musketry  at  close  quarters;  then  came  rain,  which  fell 
in  sheets  and  streamed  over  the  windows  as  if  we  were 
submerged  in  some  river;  blinding  flashes  of  lightning 
followed  in  quick  succession,  and  thunder  roared  all 
around  us  without  a  moment's  intermission.  I  thought  our 
time  had  surely  come,  and  tried  to  resign  myself  to  what 
appeared  inevitable  destruction,  and  yet  the  faces  of  my 
companions,  seen  by  the  lightning  flashes  which  relieved 
the  gloom  of  the  storm,  showed  no  signs  of  alarm.  Even 
the  lady  seemed  to  feel  no  fear,  but  sat  calmly  back  in 
her  chair,  apparently  in  serene  enjoyment  of  the  ele 
mental  war  going  on  around  us.  It  was  all  over  in  a 
few  minutes;  perhaps  it  was  only  a  few  seconds,  but  they 
were  the  longest  I  have  ever  known.  The  light  began 
to  break  upon  us  from  above,  the  rain  ceased,  and  soon 
we  were  floating  in  brilliant  sunshine,  while  the  storm 
roared  on  below.  Dion  had  turned  on  the  elevator 
and  tilted  the  sails  upward  to  their  utmost  extent,  so  that 


A  MODERN  CRCESUS. 

in  spite  of  the  heavy  downpour  of  rain,  we  had  shot  up 
ward  through  the  storm-cloud  and  sailed  into  a  region 
of  calm  and  sunshine.  At  Jason's  suggestion,  I  went 
forward  to  the  bdw  and  looked  down  upon  the  scene 
from  which  we  had  just  emerged,  and  instead  of  the 
black  cloud  which  had  overshadowed  us,  I  saw  a  sea  of 
opal  with  rolling  billows  of  gorgeous  and  ever-chang 
ing  hues  bursting  here  and  there  into  flame  as  the  light 
ning  bolts  shot  downward  to  the  lake.  The  thunder 
still  rolled  on,  but  it  sounded  distant  and  harmless,  and 
presently  the  storm  swept  northward  to  the  hills  and  the 
blue  water  came  into  view  a  long,  long  way  beneath, 
while  our  ship  swept  on  its  course  with  the  swiftness  of 
an  eagle's  flight. 

The  residence  of  Theophilus  more  than  justified  all 
that  I  had  heard  in  its  praise.  It  occupies  the  level  sum 
mit  of  a  hill  whose  precipitous  slopes  are  washed  on  three 
sides  by  the  waters  of  the  lake,  and  affords  from  every 
point  the  most  beautiful  views  imaginable.  The  house 
itself  is  built  of  pure  white  marble,  forming  three  sides  of 
a  square,  the  enclosed  space  beautifully  laid  out  as  a 
flower-garden,  with  a  splendid  fountain  in  the  center. 
Surrounding  it  on  every  side  is  a  park  something 
like  half  a  mile  in  area,  with  the  noblest  of  the  for 
est  trees  left  standing.  Towards  the  south  the  trees 
gradually  become  thicker  and  merge  into  the  original 
forest,  which  covers  the  hills  for  many  miles.  A 
smoothly-paved  road,  fifty  feet  wide,  leads  into  the 
heart  of  the  forest,  and  connects  with  a  stairway  leading 
to  a  little  harbor  at  the  neck  of  the  peninsula,  where 
several  yachts  are  generally  lying  at  anchor.  There  is 
no  other  road  connected  with  the  place,  all  communi 
cation  being  by  air-ship  or  water  craft.  The  magnifi 
cence  of  the  palace  itself  and  the  beauty  of  its  situation 


250  IONIA. 

proved  that  Theophilus  was  a  man  of  taste  as  well  as 
wealth.  He  received  us  very  graciously,  but  had  the 
air  of  a  man  born  to  command:  he  was  tall,  even  for  an 
Ionian,  but  rather  portly  in  build;  a  wide  forehead, 
piercing  gray  eyes,  firm  mouth  and  strongly  molded 
jaws  were  the  most  striking  features  of  his  smooth- 
shaven  face.  He  was  about  fifty-five  years  old,  but 
looked  to  be  about  the  same  age  as  Jason  Delphion. 
His  wife  was  a  year  or  two  younger  than  himself,  and 
looked  rather  thin  and  careworn.  She  had  been  very 
beautiful,  but  showed  the  wear  and  tear  of  time  vastly 
more  than  the  lady  Helen,  and  I  could  not  help  think 
ing  that  if  the  burden  of  riches  produced  such  results  it 
would  be  much  better  to  be  free  from  it.  We  found 
the  other  guests  assembled,  to  the  number  of  six, 
amongst  whom  were  Daphne  Van  Tromp,  and  her  father 
and  mother,  a  handsome  couple,  whom  I  should  have 
mistaken  for  her  elder  brother  and  sister,  so  young- 
looking  they  were.  As  soon  as  we  were  all  introduced, 
Theophilus  invited  us  to  the  theater,  where  the  young 
folks  were  already  assembled,  so  we  followed  him  round 
to  the  eastern  wing,  where  the  pretty  little  theater  is 
situated.  The  auditorium,  luxuriously  seated  for  two 
hundred  and  fifty  people,  is  enclosed  by  semi-circular 
walls  of  pale  rose-colored  marble,  of  which  the  lower 
portion  is  handsomely  carved  and  graced  with  many 
statues  in  bronze,  while  the  upper  part  is  formed  by 
arches  which  unite  in  the  center,  beautifully  painted  in 
the  intervening  spaces. 

A  cluster  of  powerful  electric  lamps  hanging  in  the 
center  shed  all  their  rays  upon  the  walls  and  ceiling, 
illuminating  them  brightly  and  adding  to  their  beauty 
by  making  them  appear  self-luminous. 

The  stage  was  framed  by  a  handsome  arch  of  bronze, 


A  MODERN  CRCESUS.  251 

and  the  drop-scene  presented  a  view  of  the  palace  itself, 
with  its  splendid  background  of  forest  and  mountain. 

The  young  folks  were  already  assembled  in  the 
theater,  and  occupied  all  the  front  seats,  and  we  elders 
took  the  places  left  vacant  behind.  A  very  efficient 
orchestra  was  playing  when  we  entered,  and  in  a  few 
moments  they  had  finished  and  the  curtain  rose.  The 
play  was  a  comedy  founded  on  the  mummeries  of  a 
petty  German  court,  and  full  of  amusing  situations.  It 
kept  the  little  folks  in  the  audience  heartily  entertained, 
and  the  big  folks  enjoyed  it  almost  as  much.  The  dia 
logue  was  bright  and  witty,  the  dressing  correct  in  every 
particular,  and  the  talent  displayed  by  the  actors  and 
actresses  extraordinary,  considering  that  they  were  all 
amateurs  and  none  of  them  over  fifteen  years  of  age. 
There  was  no  hitch  from  beginning  to  end,  and  no  te 
dious  waits  between  the  scenes,  and  the  whole  perform 
ance  passed  off  with  a  sparkle  and  vim  that  I  had  never 
seen  equaled  anywhere.  The  play  over,  the  whole  party 
were  escorted  to  the  dining-hall,  situated  in  the  top 
story  of  the  palace,  and  extending  from  side  to  side  of 
the  eastern  wing  at  its  northern  face. 

We  were  conveyed  in  commodious  elevators,  of  which 
there  are  no  less  than  a  dozen  in  different  parts  of  the 
building,  and  in  a  few  minutes  the  whole  company  were 
seated  round  one  long  table,  the  elders  at  one  end,  with 
the  young  people  filling  all  the  other  places, — boy  and 
girl  alternately, — all  as  beautiful  as  angels,  handsomely 
dressed  and  behaving  like  the  well-bred  little  ladies  and 
gentlemen  they  were.  The  table  was  dressed  with  flow 
ers  in  lavish  profusion  and  excellent  taste;  the  windows 
on  the  three  sides  looked  out  on  distant  lake  and  moun 
tain,  which  took  on  the  loveliest  tints  of  purple  and 
rose  as  the  sun  declined.  The  wall  on  the  fourth  side 


IONIA. 

was  divided  by  Corinthian  columns  of  alabaster  into 
three  spaces,  on  which  were  painted  splendid  battle 
scenes,  representing  Marathon,  Salamis  and  Platsea. 
From  somewhere  out  of  sight  came  soft  strains  of  mu 
sic,  and  the  murmur  of  the  sweet  Greek  voices  was  like 
music  itself.  I  would  fain  have  remained  silent,  enjoy 
ing  in  a  delicious  reverie  the  pleasant  sounds  and  the 
beautiful  forms  within  and  without,  but  our  host  seemed 
to  think  he  owed  me  particular  attention,  and  addressed 
his  conversation  in  an  especial  manner  to  me.  I  com 
plimented  him  on  the  beauty  of  his  residence  and  its 
magnificent  situation,  and  he  answered : 

"I  am  delighted  with  your  approbation.  I  suppose 
you  have  seen  many  of  our  people's  playing-grounds. 
Do  you  think  this  will  make  a  worthy  addition  to  the 
rest?" 

"Did  you  plan  and  build  it  with  that  end  in  view?" 
I  asked. 

"Not  exactly  so,"  said  Theophilus;  "it  was  partly  to 
gratify  myself  and  partly  to  use  up  some  of  the  wealth 
that  I  cannot  help  accumulating.  But  of  course  I  knew 
that  it  would  be  owned  by  the  people  after  me,  for  it 
is  of  more  value  than  the  law  will  allow  me  to  leave  to 
my  son.  I  have  a  choice  in  the  matter  only  so  far  as 
this:  I  can  make  a  gift  of  it  to  the  nation  while  I  live, 
or  I  can  die  and  leave  them  to  take  it  in  spite  of  me. 
In  the  former  case,  the  government  would  cause  a  tablet 
to  be  inserted  in  some  prominent  part  of  the  building, 
stating  that  in  such  a  year  the  merchant  Theophilus 
presented  this  palace  to  the  people,  to  be  enjoyed  by 
them  for  ever  as  a  holiday  house,  whereas  if  it  goes  by 
default,  they  will  probably  erase  my  monogram  from  the 
principal  entrances  and  my  name  will  be  promptly  for 
gotten.  In  the  one  case,  it  would  be  a  monument  to  my 


A  MODERN  CRCESUS.  253 

liberality,  and  in  the  other  a  monument  to  my  selfish 
ness." 

"And  which  course  do  you  intend  to  follow?" 

"If  I  live  till  my  daughter  marries,  I  shall  probably 
build  her  a  house  somewhere  else,  not  so  large  or  costly 
as  this,  but  large  enough  for  me  to  have  a  corner  in  it 
for  myself,  and  assume  the  part  of  a  generous  patriot. 
If  death  claims  me  before  then,  I  cannot  help  it,  and  I 
am  sure  I  shall  not  distress  myself  over  it." 

"In  any  other  part  of  the  world,"  said  I,  "a  man  who 
had  acquired  a  large  fortune  would  esteem  it  a  hardship 
not  to  be  allowed  to  pass  it  on  to  his  family,  and  thus 
become  the  founder  of  a  house  which  should  be  power 
ful  and  respected  in  the  state  for  generations.  Do  you 
not  share  that  feeling?" 

"By  no  means.  I  have  not  the  wish  any  more  than  I 
have  the  power  to  place  my  son  above  the  necessity  of 
labor.  It  is  a  mean  spirit  which  would  seek  to  enjoy 
what  others  have  produced  without  rendering  any 
equivalent.  All  children  in  this  country  have  the  benefit 
of  the  best  education,  and  to  do  much  more  than  that 
for  them  would  be  to  sap  the  foundation  of  their  energies 
and  render  them  unfit  to  be  citizens,  self-respecting  and 
self-supporting.  Furthermore,  we  look  upon  ourselves 
all  as  one  family.  Our  national  registration  offices  show 
that  each  of  us  can  claim  several  thousand  ancestors  in 
the  time  of  the  great  king,  in  three  hundred  years  more 
the  number  of  my  descendants  may  be  as  great,  and 
thus  as  an  ancestor  I  have  a  large  interest  in  the  general 
welfare,  and  desire  that  comfort  and  prosperity  should 
fall  to  the  lot  of  all,  which  would  be  impossible  if  the 
gifts  of  fortune  were  to  be  reserved  for  a  favored  few." 

"That  sounds  like  true  patriotism,"  said  I,  "and  when 
I  hear  such  sentiments  from  one  who  is  placed  in  your 


254  IONIA. 

position,  I  cannot  wonder  at  the  great  advances  your 
people  have  made  in  all  that  tends  to  ennoble  humanity; 
but  one  thing  still  puzzles  me,  and  that  is, — how  amongst 
such  a  people  you  manage  to  find  servants  to  do  the 
work  of  such  a  palace  as  this?" 

"Softly,"  said  our  host.  "I  would  not  have  one  of 
my  lady  friends  who  are  waiting  on  us  at  this  moment 
hear  you  speak  of  them  in  that  way." 

"I  beg  your  pardon,"  said  I;  "the  word  slipped  out 
inadvertently.  I  ought  not  to  have  used  it." 

"No  offense  in  the  world,"  said  Theophilus.  "I  am 
sure  it  was  not  overheard;  and  you  have  touched  upon 
one  of  the  greatest  difficulties  we  have  to  contend  with. 
The  ladies  of  my  household  are  all  capable  of  filling 
much  higher  positions,  and  it  is  only  by  great  favor  that 
I  persuade  them  to  come  and  live  here  at  salaries  which 
would  astonish  you  if  I  should  name  them.  The  work 
is  very  light,  for  everything  is  done  by  machinery, — 
scrubbing,  sweeping,  washing,  dusting,  and  all  labor 
that  might  be  termed  menial,  are  done  by  machines,  and 
the  ladies  have  only  to  superintend  them  and  see  that 
^hey  do  their  work  properly.  Then  I  have  to  provide  a 
library,  a  music-room,  and  the  most  splendid  accommo 
dation  for  my  lady  helps;  the  whole  of  the  other  wing- 
belongs  to  them,  and  they  have  as  much  enjoyment  from 
thje  comforts  of  the  house  as  the  members  of  my  family." 

Jason,  who  had  been  an  amused  listener  to  these  re 
marks,  here  observed: 

"I  know  of  few  men,  Theophilus,  who  would  have 
the  courage  to  undertake  the  task  of  carrying  on  a  huge 
establishment  like  this,  and  if  it  were  not  that  you  are 
gifted  with  a  quite  extraordinary  genius  for  organiza 
tion,  you  would  have  given  it  up  in  despair  long  ago." 

"And  after  all,"  said  Theophilus,  "the  brunt  of  the 


A  MODERN  CRCESUS.  255 

task  falls  to  my  wife,  whose  talent  for  management  is 
far  superior  to  mine." 

The  lady  thus  complimented  replied: 

"For  my  part,  I  am  ready  to  give  it  up  at  any  time. 
I  do  the  best  under  my  husband's  directions  to  keep 
everything  running  as  smoothly  as  possible,  but  al 
though  we  have  a  very  efficient  and  capable  household 
staff  and  I  look  upon  all  our  helpers  as  dear  friends,  I 
often  sigh  for  the  quiet  and  repose  of  a  smaller  house 
hold.  But  I  see  that  our  young  friends  are  getting  tired 
of  sitting  still  so  long;  it  is  time  to  give  them  the  op 
portunity  to  take  a  little  exercise." 

The  remainder  of  the  evening  up  till  nine  o'clock,  at 
which  sensible  hour  the  party  dispersed,  was  spent  in  a 
large  hall  occupying  two  stories  of  the  main  building  on 
the  ground  floor.  Here  the  young  people  danced,  while 
the  elders  of  the  party  looked  on  from  comfortable  chairs 
on  a  dais  at  one  end.  This  was  a  very  large  room,  some 
three  hundred  feet  long  by  half  that  in  width.  It  was 
provided  with  a  double  ceiling,  the  lower  one  being  of 
stained  glass,  supported  by  numerous  columns  of  bronze, 
which  stood  in  parallel  rows  about  three  feet  from  the 
walls.  The  prevailing  tint  of  the  false  ceiling  was  a  rich 
cream,  with  a  series  of  pretty  scenes  depicting  the  dances 
of  all  climes  and  ages  worked  in  varying  shades  of  rose- 
color.  The  spaces  between  the  rows  of  pillars  and  the 
walls  were  filled  with  all  kinds  of  rare  and  beautiful 
plants,  growing  in  handsome  pots  and  boxes  of  alumi 
num.  The  room  was  flooded  with  light,  but  all  of  it  came 
either  through  the  tinted  ceiling  or  from  the  mass  of 
greenery  at  the  sides,  upon  which  numerous  electric 
lamps  poured  their  light,  while  they  were  themselves 
concealed.  The  effect  was  delightful  in  the  extreme, 
and  with  the  soft  music  which  came  from  the  farther 


256  IONIA. 

end  and  the  beautiful  forms  and  graceful  motions  of  the 
little  folks  on  the  floor,  made  up  an  ensemble  which 
might  well  pass  for  fairyland. 

"I  think,"  said  I  to  the  lovely  Daphne,  who  sat  next 
to  me,  "we  can  well  find  it  in  our  hearts  to  forgive  our 
friends  their  enormous  wealth  for  providing  us  with  such 
an  enchanting  scene  as  this." 

"Indeed,"  said  Daphne,  "it  is  perfectly  enchanting. 
But  you  must  not  suppose  that  any  one  grudges  The- 
ophilus  his  great  fortune,  for  he  is  the  most  generous  of 
men.  While  his  genius  enables  him  to  prosper  in  all 
his  undertakings,  he  takes  care  that  all  who  are  asso 
ciated  with  him  share  in  his  profits,  down  to  the  hum 
blest  clerk.  And  although  there  is  no  need  for  charity 
in  our  country,  yet  he  finds  means  to  spend  money 
lavishly  for  the  good  of  the  people,  and  has  presented 
libraries  and  gymnasiums  to  at  least  a  score  of  the 
smaller  towns  and  villages  throughout  the  country.  He 
can  well  afford  to  jest  about  being  held  up  to  posterity 
as  a  sordid  or  selfish  man,  for  he  is  known  throughout 
the  country  for  his  liberality  and  open-handed  gene 
rosity,  and  will  be  long  remembered  for  his  munificence." 

"I  am  greatly  delighted  to  hear  it,"  said  I,  "and  yet 
I  am  not  surprised  after  the  sentiments  he  expressed  at 
the  dinner-table.  But  look  at  those  pretty  children  be 
low  us;  what  beautiful  figures  they  are  dancing,  and 
how  well  and  gracefully  they  all  go  through  their  parts. 
That  is  truly  the  poetry  of  motion.  Why  is  it  that  none 
of  the  grown  people  dance?" 

"We  look  upon  dancing  as  suitable  only  for  children. 
They  enter  into  it  with  all  their  heart  and  soul,  and  it 
is  a  charming  sight;  but  for  men  and  women  to  be  cut 
ting  capers  in  that  way  would  be  merely  to  make 
themselves  ridiculous.  Besides,  it  tends  to  a  kind  of 


A  MODERN  CRCESUS.  257 

familiarity  which,  while  perfectly  harmless  in  children, 
could  not  but  be  offensive  when  the  years  of  discretion 
are  attained.  I  understand  that  people  of  all  ages  dance 
in  other  countries,  but  it  would  not  seem  right  to  us." 

"Well,  doubtless  you  know  best,  but  there  is  another 
thing  I  would  ask,  and  that  is — why  is  it  that  I  have 
never  seen  a  theater  or  an  opera-house  since  I  came  to 
the  country?  I  had  never  thought  of  it  before,  but  that 
little  jewel  of  a  play-house  we  passed  the  afternoon  in 
brought  the  matter  to  my  mind." 

'That,"  said  Daphne,  "is  another  form  of  amusement 
which  we  have  outgrown,  and  leave  to  the  children. 
You  could  not  get  women  to  exhibit  themselves  on  a 
stage  in  Ionia  upon  any  consideration,  and  even  men 
would  be  held  to  demean  themselves  by  playing  im 
aginary  parts  in  public.  To  the  children  it  is  all  very 
real,  and  furnishes  great  amusement,  both  for  actors  and 
spectators,  but  if  the  performers  were  adults  it  would 
savor  too  much  of  sham  and  folly.  Dramatic  perform 
ances  are  suitable  for  childhood,  either  of  the  individual 
or  of  the  race.  The  adult  mind  refuses  acceptance  of  the 
illusions  of  the  stage,  and  is  therefore  unable  to  interest 
itself  in  plays  and  players." 

"And  have  you  not  devised  anything  to  take  the  place 
of  these  two  forms  of  amusement?" 

"I  cannot  say  that  we  have,"  said  Daphne;  "but  that 
is  merely  because  we  do  not  feel  any  need  to  be  amused. 
Do  you  think  we  seem  a  melancholy  people?" 

Daphne  smiled  as  she  said  this,  and  looked  as  if  she 
thought  the  idea  of  requiring  to  be  amused  was  the  droll 
est  thing  she  had  ever  heard  of  for  a  long  time,  so  I 
laughed  with  her  and  said: 

"On  the  contrary,  you  appear  all  as  happy  as  children, 
to  whom  life  is  one  long  holiday." 

17 


258  IONIA, 

"And  why  should  we  not  be  as  happy?  It  is  a  beau 
tiful  world,  providing  full  satisfaction  for  every  want 
and  desire  of  our  nature.  And  we  have  books  and  pic 
tures  and  music  and  friends.  It  is  very,  very  pleasant  to 
live.  Stay  with  us,  Alexander,  and  perhaps  you  may 
be  able  to  become  a  happy  child  like  the  rest  of  us,  and 
get  rid  of  the  atmosphere  of  sad  gravity  which  envelops 
an  Englishman." 

It  was  a  very  tempting  invitation,  and  one  which  it 
would  have  been  impossible  to  resist  if  one  could  have 
flattered  himself  that  any  interest  warmer  than  mere 
humanity  inspired  the  adorable  woman  who  uttered  it. 


CHAPTER    XIII. 
LAST    DAYS    IN    IONIA. 

I  have  now  to  relate  the  history  of  a  pleasant  little 
excursion  beyond  the  mountains  of  Ionia.  I  was  invited 
to  accompany  Leonidas  and  Dion,  with  a  few  others,  on 
a  shooting  trip  in  which  large  game  were  expected,  the 
locality  chosen  for  the  hunt  being  a  very  inaccessible 
portion  of  Southern  Thibet,  where  tigers  and  leopards 
were  plentiful. 

We  started  about  an  hour  after  sunset  in  five  air-ves 
sels,  each  carrying  from  t\vo  to  four  men.  The  hunt 
ing  ground  was  a  long  wray  off,  and  it  took  the  whole 
night  to  accomplish  the  journey.  I  traveled  with  Dion 
and  another  young  man  of  the  name  of  Cleon,  who  was 
nearly  as  skillful  an  aerial  navigator  as  Dion  himself. 
Each  took  charge  of  the  vessel  for  half  the  night,  so  that 
each  had  a  chance  to  obtain  some  sleep  and  arrive  at 
the  scene  of  operations  in  good  condition.  The  vessels 


LAST    DAYS    IN    IONIA.  259 

kept  in  the  same  order  all  the  way,  that  of  the  master  of 
the  hunt  going  first,  followed  by  the  others,  two  and  two, 
each  keeping  his  neighbors  in  front  and  to  the  right  or 
left  at  a  certain  distance,  and  always  clearly  in  sight. 

For  my  part,  as  I  had  nothing  to  attend  to  in  the  way 
of  duties,  I  slept  very  soundly  all  night,  the  smooth 
motion  of  the  vessel  and  the  hum  of  the  propeller  con 
tributing  very  much  to  drowsiness.  I  awoke  just  as  the 
light  of  day  began  to  break  on  a  range  of  mountains 
far  away  before  us:  the  stars  were  fading  from  the  scene, 
but  one  splendid  orb  disputed  with  the  coming  sun  the 
supremacy  of  the  eastern  sky.  Between  us  and  the 
mountains  a  great  river  rolled  majestically,  reflecting 
from  its  broad  bosom  the  azure-light  of  the  dawn,  and 
a  giant  palm  tree  on  the  nearest  shore  stood  boldly  out 
lined  by  the  silvery  sheen.  Not  a  breath  of  wind  was 
stirring,  and  yet  it  seemed  to  me  I  heard  some  sound 
besides  the  drone  of  our  ship's  revolving  fan.  It  was 
a  strain  of  soft  harmony  like  the  sound  of  manly  voices, 
beautifully  blended  and  softened  by  distance  to  exquisite 
sweetness.  Heard  there  in  the  dawn,  so  far  above  the 
earth  and  with  the  sky  seemingly  so  near,  it  suggested 
a  chorus  of  archangels,  and  I  held  my  breath  and  lis 
tened,  but  alas,  it  stopped  too  soon.  But  again  a  single 
voice  took  up  the  melody, — a  clear,  mellow  voice, — and 
it  came  nearer  and  became  more  and  more  distinct,  a 
beautiful  song  indeed,  and  beautifully  sung.  Again  the 
other  voices  joined;  this  time  much  louder  than  before, 
but  finely  blended,  and  I  fancied  I  could  make  out  the 
grand  rolling  thunder  of  Leonidas'  bass.  Solo  and 
chorus  were  repeated  several  times,  and  only  ceased 
when  the  stars  had  disappeared,  and  the  sun  came  up 
from  behind  the  hills  and  flooded  the  whole  world  be 
low  us  with  golden  light. 


X;GU  IONIA. 

"What  was  that  music?"  I  asked  of  Cleon,  who  was 
in  charge  of  the  ship  while  Dion  calmly  slept. 

"That  was  the  song  of  the  morning  star,  sung  by 
Leonidas  and  his  friends  on  our  right  hand." 

"And  how  was  it  that  it  was  so  faint  at  first  and  after 
wards  so  loud  and  clear?" 

"I  saw  that  you  were  listening,  and  I  steered  our  ves 
sel  closer  to  theirs,  so  that  I  might  give  you  the  chance 
to  hear  it  better.  It  is  a  beautiful  song,  and  they  have 
all  good  voices." 

"I  thank  you  very  much.  I  would  not  have  missed  it 
for  a  great  deal." 

We  soon  reached  the  hill  country,  which  was  destitute 
of  all  signs  of  cultivation.     All  the  vessels  landed  in  a 
secluded  valley,  beside  a  clear  running  stream.     In  a 
wonderfully  short  time  an  excellent  breakfast  was  pre 
pared,  and  these  young  men  showed  that  in  the  absence 
of  their  sisters  and  wives  they  could  play  the  part  of 
cook  with  much  skill.    But  there  was  a  great  deal  to  be 
done  that  day,  and  the  meal  was  disposed  of  in  short 
order;  then  to  the  vessels  again,  and  we  went  skimming 
over  the  wild  mountain  country  in  the  wake  of  Philenor, 
the  master  of  the  hunt.    We  landed  at  the  foot  of  a  long 
ravine  filled  with  a  dense  growth  of  trees  and  under 
brush,  through  which  a  slender  stream  of  water  trickled 
on  its  way  to  the  plain  below.    Two  precipitous  walls  of 
rock  approached  each  other  at  the  lower  end  to  within 
a  distance  of  fifty  feet,  and  the  pebbles  and  boulders  fill 
ing  the  intervening  space  showed  that  in  the  rainy  season 
this  streamlet  must  be  a  roaring  torrent,  but  at  this  time 
the  water  seemed  to  lose  itself  among  the  stones  which 
formed  a  rough  but  perfectly  secure  road  for  beasts  of 
prey.     Above  this  narrow  gorge  was  a  clear  space  of 
level  sod  about  an  acre  in  extent,  and  there  it  was  we 


LAST    DAYS    IN    IONIA.  261 

landed,  taking  up  a  position  on  one  side  so  that  what 
ever  might  pass  from  the  upper  part  of  the  ravine  should 
come  within  reach  of  the  guns.  And  now  the  party  di 
vided,  and  while  some  prepared  for  the  shooting,  the  rest 
undertook  the  part  of  beaters.  One  of  the  vessels  was 
moored  against  the  steep  side  of  the  ravine  in  such  a 
way  as  to  screen  the  hunters  from  the  sight  of  approach 
ing  animals,  while  the  others  took  to  the  air  again — two 
men  in  each  vessel,  one  to  navigate  it  and  the  other  to 
drive  the  animals  in  our  direction. 

In  a  few  minutes  they  were  out  of  sight,  beyond  the 
tree-tops,  and  absolute  silence  reigned  in  the  valley.  Not 
a  word  was  spoken,  each  man  stood  with  a  gun  resting 
on  his  hip,  and  two  more  at  his  feet  ready  to  be  used 
without  loss  of  time.  Presently  a  distant  crackling  fire 
was  heard,  like  musketry  file  firing,  and  it  crept  nearer 
and  gradually  became  louder,  until  I  could  distinguish 
the  vessels  coming  down  the  ravine,  crossing  it  in  zig 
zag  fashion  from  side  to  side  as  they  advanced.  The 
sounds  came  from  the  dropping  of  small  explosive  balls 
from  the  vessels,  which  made  a  loud  explosive  noise 
when  they  reached  the  ground,  but  without  causing  any 
combustion.  The  effect  of  this  was  to  frighten  whatever 
animals  the  woods  might  shelter,  and  cause  them  to  fly 
before  the  approaching  fusillade.  At  first  it  seemed  as 
if  the  cover  must  be  destitute  of  game,  for  not  a  living 
creature  appeared,  but  when  the  vessels  had  arrived  with 
in  half  a  mile  of  us  a  great  boar  with  tremendous  tusks 
rushed  past  us  and  plunged  through  the  stones  of  the 
gorge  out  of  sight.  'No  one  fired;  evidently  this  was 
not  the  kind  of  game  they  were  after.  I  waited  in 
breathless  expectation  to  see  what  would  come  next. 
Philenor  named  one  of  the  hunters,  which  was  equiva 
lent  to  an  order  to  shoot ;  the  young  man  quickly  raised 


262  IONIA. 

his  piece  and  fired,  and  a  beautiful  striped  panther 
sprang  up  into  the  air  on  the  other  side  of  the  glade  and 
fell  back  dead.  Then  came  a  great  serpent  gliding 
along  by  the  water,  and  concealing  itself  amongst  the 
grass,  so  that  only  a  small  portion  of  its  body  was  visi 
ble  at  one  time.  A  shot  through  the  head  ended  its 
career  of  wickedness.  Next  came  a  large  tigress,  with 
two  cubs  running  by  her  side.  A  shot  from  the  rifle  of 
Leonidas  found  a  vital  spot,  and  stretched  her  dead  on 
the  grass.  At  first  the  cubs  stayed  by  the  body  of  their 
mother  whining  and  licking  her  side,  but  the  near  ap 
proach  of  the  dropping  fire  from  the  vessels  frightened 
them,  and  they  ran  off  and  would  have  made  their  es 
cape,  but  Philenor,  believing  that  the  valley  must  now 
be  empty  of  all  large  game,  gave  the  word,  and  Leonidas 
and  Dion  each  ran  out  armed  with  the  instrument  used 
for  capturing  young  animals  of  this  sort,  which  con 
sisted  of  a  net  made  of  fine  wire  attached  to  a  stout 
pole  about  six  feet  long.  Leonidas  was  two  or  three 
feet  ahead  of  his  friend,  and  had  just  succeeded  in  net 
ting  one  of  the  cubs  when  a  large  male  tiger  rushed 
with  the  speed  of  a  whirlwind  from  under  the  trees,  and 
uttering  a  terrific  roar,  sprang  at  him.  Leonidas  turned 
his  head  only  in  time  to  see  the  tiger  in  the  air  just  a  few 
feet  behind  him.  He  sprang  nimbly  to  one  side,  but 
quick  as  he  was  the  tiger  would  have  descended  upon 
him  had  not  Dion,  with  rare  presence  of  mind,  caught 
the  beast's  head  in  his  net,  and  with  a  powerful  jerk 
brought  it  to  the  ground  so  that  the  tiger  rolled  head 
over  heels  on  the  grass,  the  impetus  of  his  spring  carry 
ing  him  quite  a  distance.  I  expected  that  the  two 
young  men  would  now  spring  back,  out  of  the  line  of 
fire,  and  allow  the  other  hunters  a  chance  to  shoot;  but, 
to  my  surprise  and  horror,  I  saw  that  they  were  bent  on 


LAST   DAYS   IN   IONIA.  263 

fighting  it  out  with  the  poor  weapons  they  happened 
to  have  in  their  hands.  The  tiger  was  quick  in  recover 
ing  itself,  but  Leonidas,  the  trained  athlete,  was  quicker. 
He  had  disengaged  the  net  from  his  pole  in  order  to  use 
it  as  a  club,  and,  rushing  after  the  great  beast,  dealt  it 
a  terrific  blow  on  the  head  as  it  was  turning  to  attack 
them  again.  The  tiger  had  never  met  such  a  doughty 
antagonist  before;  it  fell  to  the  ground  stunned  and 
blinded,  beating  the  air  with  its  paws.  The  stout  ashen 
pole  was  shivered  to  splinters,  leaving  but  a  fragment  in 
the  hand  of  Leonidas,  but  Dion  had  rushed  to  his  friend's 
side  and  was  about  to  follow  up  the  attack  when  Philenor 
sternly  ordered  them  both  out  of  the  way.  Being  used 
to  discipline,  they  at  once  leapt  nimbly  aside,  and  the 
master  huntsman  himself  finished  the  tiger  with  a  shot 
through  the  head. 

The  cubs  \vere  now  secured,  and  placed  safely  in  a 
chest  in  one  of  the  air  vessels.  The  other  animals  were 
skinned,  and  the  furs  awarded  to  the  huntsmen  who 
brought  them  down,  a  point  which,  in  case  of  doubt,  the 
master  of  the  hunt  invariably  decided,  and  from  his  de 
cision  there  was  no  appeal.  Philenor  awarded  the 
skin  of  the  large  tiger  to  Dion,  since,  though  he 
had  not  killed  him,  he  had  foiled  his  attack 
on  Leonidas,  whose  life  he  had  doubtless  saved,  but 
Dion  demurred  to  accepting  the  trophy  in  this  irregular 
way,  and  proposed  that  if  Philenor  would  not  accept  it, 
as  he  had  every  right  to  do,  it  should  be  given  to  me. 
This  seemed  to  please  all  parties,  and  I  accepted  it  with 
gratitude  as  a  souvenir  of  one  of  the  most  exciting  epi 
sodes  of  my  life.  I  brought  it  back  to  England,  and  it 
is  allowed  to  be  one  of  the  largest  and  finest  skins  ever 
taken  from  the  body  of  a  tiger. 

The  day's  work  was  only  begun,  however,  and  in  a 


264  IONIA. 

few  minutes  we  were  miles  away  looking  for  another 
favorable  spot  for  large  game.  This  was  soon  found, 
and  the  same  plan  of  operations  followed  with  good  re 
sults,  only  this  time  the  hunters  and  beaters  changed 
places,  those  who  had  manned  the  vessels  the  first  time 
doing  the  shooting  the  second,  and  thus  before  the  day 
was  over  each  member  of  the  party  had  the  chance  of 
bringing  down  a  tiger  or  a  leopard  or  a  deer,  and  there 
were  very  few  misses,  so  that  all  went  home  satisfied. 
In  the  course  of  the  day  we  passed  over  at  least  a  hun 
dred  square  miles  of  territory,  and  cleared  that  district 
of  some  very  formidable  pests.  Even  I,  although  I  had 
never  handled  a  gun  before,  managed  to  bring  down  a 
good-sized  leopard.  It  was  an  easy  shot,  and  that  was 
why  Philenor  reserved  it  for  me.  The  animal,  skulking 
away  from  the  terrifying  fusillade  of  the  vessels,  had  taken 
refuge  in  a  tree  on  the  verge  of  a  forest  near  where  we 
were  stationed;  it  had  not  seen  us,  as  its  attention  was 
taken  up  by  the  approach  of  the  vessels.  It  was  a  long 
time  before  Philenor  could  make  me  see  it,  as  its  head 
only  was  visible,  but  it  was  perfectly  still,  and  not  more 
than  forty  feet  away,  so  I  took  a  steady  aim  and  pulled 
the  trigger,  and,  to  my  great  surprise  and  delight,  the 
leopard  dropped  from  the  tree  stone  dead. 

A  most  jovial  al  fresco  supper  concluded  the  pleasures 
of  a  rare  day's  sport,  and  we  started  on  the  return  jour 
ney  as  the  sun  was  setting,  and  I  slept  so  soundly  all  the 
way  home  that  I  was  surprised  to  wake  up  and  find  that 
we  were  once  more  in  lolkos. 

Early  in  the  year  invitations  were  received  by  myself 
and  most  of  my  friends  to  spend  a  week  or  two  at  Lau- 
reion,  the  mining  city  at  the  foot  of  Mount  Olympus.  I 
had  heard  much  of  the  delights  of  this  city  in  the  moun 
tains,  but  the  reality  far  surpassed  my  expectations.  The 


LAST   DAYS   IN    IONIA.   '  265 

public  buildings  are  very  little  behind  those  of  lolkos 
in  grandeur  and  beauty,  and  the  private  residences  are 
without  exception  perfect  models  of  taste  and  Comfort. 
The  inhabitants  are  all  wealthy,  the  head  of  every  family 
being  part  owner  of  the  mines  which  draw  from  the  sur 
rounding  mountains  vast  stores  of  gold,  silver,  copper 
and  every  other  metal  except  iron.  The  production  is 
so  great  that  it  is  necessary  to  shut  down  the  mines  for 
a  month  or  two  every  year,  and  the  winter  is  chosen  as 
the  season  of  rest  and  recreation,  because  mining  is  more 
difficult  then  on  account  of  the  cold,  and  because  of  the 
great  enjoyment  the  citizens  derive  from  winter  sports. 
Skating,  tobogganing,  snow-shoeing,  and  every  form  of 
exercise  to  which  a  cold  climate  lends  itself  are  practiced 
on  a  great  scale,  and  with  wonderful  skill  and  grace,  and 
the  hospitality  of  the  people  is  such  that  the  population 
of  the  city  is  often  nearly  doubled  by  the  guests  invited 
from  all  parts  of  the  country  at  this  time. 

The  city  itself  is  a  wonderfully  attractive  picture,  the 
splendor  of  its  streets  and  buildings  contrasting  strangely 
with  the  savage,  snow-clad  mountains  by  which  it  is  sur 
rounded  on  every  side.  The  level  land  is  thoroughly 
cultivated,  but  its  extent  is  only  a  few  square  miles,  and 
the  high  mountains  make  it  appear  less  than  it  is,  so  that 
this  splendid  city  of  granite  and  limestone,  with  streets 
of  aluminum  paving  as  bright  as  silver,  seems  like  the 
work  of  some  magician  in  the  savage  wilderness.  Snow 
falls  to  a  great  depth  in  this  little  valley  sometimes,  but 
the  people  do  not  mind  it;  the  streets  are  cleared  by 
powerful  sweeping  and  shoveling  machines,  and  there 
are  numerous  large  buildings  whose  floors  are  covered 
every  day  with  a  fresh  coating  of  ice,  and  the  games  go 
on  in  defiance  of  the  wildest  weather.  The  snow  had 
not  yet  begun  to  fall  on  the  lower  ground  when  we  were 


266  IONIA. 

there,  and  one  bright  afternoon  Dion  and  myself,  with 
Daphne  Van  Tromp,  set  out  for  a  long  skate  up  the 
river,  which  runs  into  the  valley  from  a  wild  and  ro 
mantic  glen  on  the  north.  The  air  was  keen  and  fresh, 
the  sun  shone  bright  on  the  hills  and  woods,  and  we 
sped  merrily  on  past  dark  precipices  and  copses  of  ever 
greens,  with  great  mountain  peaks  showing  high  above 
us  through  the  trees.  In  a  very  short  time  we  reached 
the  limit  of  our  excursion,  which  was  a  beautiful  water 
fall  a  hundred  and  fifty  feet  high,  framed  in  the  most 
beautiful  frost  work  imaginable.  Here  we  sat  on  a 
fallen  tree  to  rest  and  admire  the  beauty  of  the  scene. 
The  noise  of  the  fall  made  talking  impossible,  so  after 
a  few  minutes  of  repose  we  commenced  our  return  jour 
ney.  We  had  but  seven  miles  to  go,  and  plenty  of  day 
light  to  do  it  in,  so  we  went  very  leisurely,  and  stopped 
now  and  again  to  admire  the  lovely  vistas  of  mountain 
scenery  which  presented  themselves  at  intervals  on  either 
side.  About  a  mile  below  the  falls  a  cluster  of  distant 
peaks  seen  through  a  narrow  valley  arrested  our  atten 
tion,  and  we  stood  stock  still  to  enjoy  the  splendor  of 
the  view.  The  silence  was  absolute,  and  the  majesty  of 
nature's  grand  architecture  awed  us  so  that  we  spoke 
only  in  whispers,  when  suddenly  a  long-drawn  howl  of 
some  animal,  apparently  not  far  off,  arrested  our  atten 
tion. 

"What  was  that?"  I  asked. 

''Wolves,"  said  Dion,  "and  we  must  make  haste  and 
get  away  from  here." 

So  we  started  off  with  what  speed  we  could,  but  I  soon 
felt  that  I  was  a  drag  upon  my  companions,  and  begged 
them  to  leave  me  and  seek  their  own  safety.  I  could 
climb  some  tree  and  wait  till  help  came. 

"If  you  could  leave  us  both,"  said  Daphne,  "in  some 


LAST   DAYS   IN    IONIA.  267 

safe  place,  you  could  easily  distance  the  wolves  and  re 
turn  and  rescue  us." 

"I  will  not  leave  you  unless  it  is  your  wish,"  said  Dion; 
"but  there  is  a  large  rock  standing  against  the  precipice 
just  beyond  the  next  turning.  There  you  would  both  be 
safe,  and  I  should  soon  return  with  all  the  help  neces 
sary." 

Meantime  the  howling  increased,  and  it  was  evident 
that  the  pack  was  in  chase  of  us  and  gaining  every  min 
ute. 

"Yonder  is  the  rock,"  said  Dion;  "it  is  twelve  feet 
high;  you  will  be  quite  safe,  and  have  plenty  of  room 
on  the  top.  Is  that  to  be  our  plan?" 

"By  all  means,"  said  Daphne,  "let  us  make  haste." 

So  we  stopped  below  the  rock,  but  for  my  part  I  could 
not  see  how  we  were  to  scale  it  ourselves.  Dion  soon 
solved  the  difficulty;  he  said  to  Daphne: 

"Put  your  foot  on  my  hand  as  I  kneel,  rest  your  hand 
on  my  head,  and  spring  when  I  say  'Now.' " 

This  was  no  sooner  said  than  done,  and  the  lady 
sprang  like  a  bird  to  the  top  of  the  rock.  My  turn  came 
next,  and  although  I  made  a  much  more  awkward  job 
of  it,  I  managed  by  Daphne's  help  to  scramble  up  beside 
her.  Dion  then  took  off  his  cloak  and  threw  it  up  to  us 
to  use  as  a  cushion  to  sit  upon,  and  he  was  aff  like  the 
wind,  and  out  of  sight  in  a  moment. 

"Now,"  said  Daphne,  "we  must  stop  the  wolves  here. 
They  could  never  overtake  Dion  or  come  within  sight  of 
him,  but  an  accident  might  happen — he  might  trip  on  a 
fallen  branch  and  fall  stunned  on  the  ice.  It  is  not  likely, 
for  he  will  be  careful  as  well  as  swift,  but  we  must  not 
expose  him  to  the  chance  of  so  awful  a  fate  as  to  be  de 
voured  by  the  wolves,  so  we  must  both  shout  our  loud 
est  when  the  leaders  come  near.  And  if  we  had  some 


268  IONIA. 

stones, — see  there  are  some  good  sized  ones  in  that  rift 
behind  us.  Can  you  throw  well?" 

"I  used  to  be  able  to  throw  a  cricket  ball  pretty 
straight." 

"Well,  take  two  or  three  on  your  left  arm  and  try  to 
hit  one  of  them.  That  will  stop  them  if  our  shouting 
does  not.  Stand  well  back  lest  you  overbalance  your 
self,  and  I  shall  grasp  your  left  sleeve  as  an  additional 
precaution." 

The  wolves  were  now  very  near,  and  they  were  not 
few  in  number  as  we  could  tell  by  their  continuous  howl 
ing.  At  length  the  leader  dashed  round  the  rocks  which 
marked  the  bend  of  the  river.  He  was  a  ferocious 
looking  beast,  as  large  as  a  great  Dane,  with  a  gray, 
shaggy  coat,  fierce,  blood-shot  eyes,  and  jaws  dripping 
with  foam.  Close  after  him  came  the  pack,  not  less  than 
thirty  in  number,  howling  and  snapping  at  each  other, 
ferocious  looking  brutes,  with  dreadful  fangs.  It  was  a 
sight  to  make  a  brave  man  tremble,  but  the  beautiful  girl 
beside  me  remained  as  cool  as  if  she  were  in  the  safest 
corner  of  Laureion. 

Now  they  were  abreast  of  us,  and  would  have  passed, 
but  we  both  raised  our  voices  and  shouted  in  unison. 
At  the  same  time  I  took  good  aim  at  the  leader  and 
bowled  him  over  on  the  ice.  He  was  not  much  hurt, 
however,  and  seeing  us,  made  a  dash  at  the  rock  on 
which  we  stood,  as  if  he  thought  he  could  reach  us  with 
a  leap.  He  failed,  of  course,  and  fell  back  with  a  yell  of 
disappointed  rage.  The  others  also  turned  aside  and 
sprang  at  the  rock  with  such  a  chorus  of  howls  as  almost 
made  my  blood  curdle.  I  threw  all  the  stones  I  had  on 
my  arm,  and  with  so  good  an  aim  that  one  of  them  was 
struck  down  senseless  and  the  others  turned  upon  him 
and  devoured  him  alive  before  our  eyes. 


LAST   DAYS   IN    IONIA.  269 

I  turned  to  pick  out  some  more  stones  from  the  crev 
ice,  but  Daphne  stopped  me,  saying,  "Don't  throw  any 
more,  if  you  please,  Alexander.  I  could  not  bear  to  see 
any  more  of  them  torn  to  pieces  in  that  way.  It  is  too 
horrible.  Let  us  sit  down  with  our  backs  to  the  preci 
pice.  Now  we  shall  be  quite  comfortable,  and  we  shall 
not  wait  very  long  for  rescue." 

And  the  fearless  girl  took  a  sketch-book  from  her 
pocket  and  began  rapidly  sketching  the  ferocious  ani 
mals  below  us.  Some  of  them  kept  springing  vainly  at 
the  rock  on  which  we  sat,  but  most  of  them  sat  on  their 
haunches  in  a  semi-circle,  alternately  howling  and  lick 
ing  their  chops  in  anticipation  of  the  meal  they  expected 
to  make  of  us  before  long. 

Meantime  Daphne  sketched  away  rapidly,  filling  page 
after  page  with  vigorous  outlines  of  the  wolves  in  all  the 
various  positions  they  assumed  in  their  frantic  rage. 

I  was  lost  in  admiration  of  her  coolness  and  nerve, 
and  when  the  noise  of  the  angry  beasts  had  somewhat 
diminished  I  said: 

"Daphne,  do  you  know  anything  of  the  emotion  of 
fear?" 

She  turned  her  beautiful  eyes  on  me  with  a  look  of  as 
tonishment,  and  said: 

"Surely,  Alexander,  you  do  not  think  Dion  would 
have  left  us  if  we  had  been  in  any  danger?" 

"Certainly  not,"  I  said;  "but  at  the  same  time  the  sight 
of  these  ferocious  animals  and  the  dreadful  clamor  they 
make  would  unnerve  the  boldest  spirit  that  ever  wore  a 
gown  in  my  country." 

Daphne  laughed,  and  said,  with  a  blush: 

"Then  I  am  afraid  you  will  think  me  very  unwomanly, 
for  to  tell  you  the  truth,  I  cannot  remember  ever  being 


270  IONIA. 

afraid  of  anything.  Indeed  I  have  never  seen  anything 
to  be  afraid  of  any  more  than  I  do  at  this  moment." 

Just  then,  as  if  to  test  the  undaunted  Daphne's  courage 
to  the  utmost,  the  wolves,  tired  of  waiting  for  their  prey, 
rushed  at  the  rock  of  refuge  in  a  body,  snarling  and  yell 
ing  like  fiends,  and  the  great  gray  wolf  which  we  had 
distinguished  as  the  leader,  ran  to  the  middle  of  the  ice 
and  rushed  frantically  towards  our  position,  and,  leaping 
upon  the  backs  of  the  others,  actually  succeeded  in 
touching  the  edge  of  the  rock  with  his  paws.  He  slipped 
back  again,  but  only  to  make  another  determined  attempt 
to  reach  us. 

Daphne  tucked  her  dress  under  her,  and  folded  in  the 
edge  of  the  cloak  on  which  we  sat,  and  then  coolly  re 
marked: 

"His  wolfship  is  presuming  too  much  on  our  acquaint 
ance.  If  he  repeats  that  experiment  I  shall  offer  no  ob- 
jec.tion  to  your  crippling  him  with  one  of  these  stones." 

The  \volf  lost  no  time  in  making  another  rush,  and  for 
a  moment  it  seemed  as  if  he  would  make  his  footing  se 
cure,  but  I  had  a  large  stone  ready,  and  brought  it  down 
with  all  my  force  on  his  right  paw,  which  made  him  drop 
back  with  a  howl  of  anguish,  and  the  attempt  was  not 
again  repeated.  Daphne  calmly  resumed  her  sketching, 
and  while  admiring  her  rapid,  vigorous  work,  I  replied 
to  her  last  remark. 

"The  more  I  see  of  the  women,  as  well  as  the  men  of 
Ionia,  the  greater  I  feel  to  be  the  immeasurable  superior 
ity  of  your  race.  It  seems  to  me  as  if  I  had  been  so 
journing  amongst  the  gods,  and,  although  you  have  all 
had  the  unspeakable  kindness  to  treat  me  as  an  equal,  I 
cannot  help  thinking  that  when  I  am  gone  you  will  ut 
terly  forget  me,  or  at  the  best  think  of  me  as  a  poor  lit- 


•  I 


BUT   I   HAD  A  I.ARGK  STONE  READY.  —Page  270. 


LAST   DAYS   IN    IONIA.  271 

tie  barbarian,  whom  you  petted  while  here  as  a  kind  of 
foreign  curiosity." 

"There  you  wrong  us,  Alexander,  for  indeed  we  look 
upon  you  as  a  friend,  and  while  sympathizing  with  the 
task  you  have  undertaken,  we  shall  hope  and  expect  to 
see  you  back  amongst  us,  and  the  warmest  welcome 
awaits  you  when  you  return.  And  I  am  at  this  moment 
preparing  something  which  may  serve  to  keep  us  in 
your  remembrance.  You  know  that  I  paint  a  little,  and 
I  propose  to  make  a  picture  of  this  very  scene,  which  you 
shall  take  as  a  present  from  me  to  your  mother,  of  whom 
we  have  heard  such  great  and  noble  things.  The  point 
of  view  will  be  down  there  on  the  other  side  of  the  river, 
with  the  wolves  in  the  foreground,  a  young  man  and  a 
maiden  on  a  rock  in  the  middle  distance,  with  this  great 
precipice  behind,  and  perhaps  there  may  be  a  mountain 
peak  somewhere  far  away  above  us,  and  the  red  sun  set 
ting  on  the  right.  Don't  you  think  it  will  be  an  excellent 
subject?  I  must  come  again  to  make  a  sketch  of  the 
whole  scene — tomorrow,  perhaps,  if  you  and  Dion  can 
come  with  me — what  do  you  say?" 

"I  say  that  you  will  give  my  mother  a  great  deal  of 
happiness,  not  unmixed,  perhaps,  with  terror  at  the  sup 
posed  danger  of  her  son  and  the  brave  young  lady  beside 
him.  But  if  you  would  make  her  happiness  complete, 
you  might  add  a  portrait  of  the  artist  as  well." 

"I  do  not  promise  that,  but  you  shall  have  something 
else  to  remind  you  of  this  little  adventure." 

"And  what  will  that  be?" 

"You  see  that  great  wolf  limping  about  and  licking  the 
paw  which  you  so  cruelly  maltreated — you  shall  have  his 
skin  for  a  rug,  and  a  fine  one  it  will  make." 

"Now  you  are  jesting,  Daphne.  How  can  you  prom 
ise  that?" 


272  IONIA. 

"Because  Dion  will  be  here  in  a  few  minutes  with  a 
number  of  the  young  men  of  Laureion,  and  they  will  not 
let  one  of  those  wolves  escape.  It  is  years  since  the 
creatures  ventured  so  near  any  part  of  our  country,  and 
they  will  be  sure  to  kill  them  all,  and  I  know  that  they 
will  offer  the  choicest  skins  to  you  and  me." 

"And  will  they  shoot  them  all  here  before  our  eyes?" 

"No,  I  am  sure  they  will  not  do  that,  for  they  know 
that  such  a  butchery  would  be  very  painful  both  to  you 
and  to  me.  How  they  will  entice  them  away  I  do  not 
know,  but  they  will  find  a  way.  You  see  the  poor 
wolves  are  in  a  trap  between  these  two  great  precipices; 
we  are  the  bait,  but  the  bait  will  come  off  safe  and  sound, 
and  the  wolves  will  be  the  victims." 

Just  at  that  moment  an  air-ship  flew  by  overhead,  and 
a  voice  called  out: 

"All  safe,  Daphne?" 

"All  safe,  Dion." 

The  response  rang  out  clear  in  Daphne's  musical 
tones,  and  must  have  removed  any  doubt  in  Dion's  mind 
as  to  the  wisdom  of  leaving  us  where  we  were. 

Another  air-ship  flew  by,  and  another,  and  another, 
till  in  the  space  of  two  minutes  a  dozen  must  have  passed 
by,  and  still  they  kept  coming. 

The  sun  was  near  its  setting,  but  there  was  light 
enough  for  the  work  to  be  done.  After  a  short  interval 
we  heard  a  shot  from  beyond  the  turn  of  the  river  above 
us,  answered  by  a  shot  from  below.  Then  we  saw  Dion 
on  foot  on  the  ice.  He  threw  two  large  stones,  which 
came  skimming  along  like  cannon  balls  amongst  the 
wolves,  while  at  the  same  time  he  shouted  his  loudest  to 
attract  their  attention.  In  a  moment  the  whole  pack 
made  for  him  with  frantic  yells.  Dion  disappeared  be 
hind  the  rocks,  and,  as  it  seemed  to  us,  the  wolves  were 


LAST   DAYS   IN    IONIA.  273 

out  of  sight  almost  at  the  same  moment.  Then  came  a 
sharp  fusillade  of  fire-arms  which  was  kept  up  for  two  or 
three  minutes.  Then  there  was  silence,  and  our  deliver 
ers  came  and  helped  us  down  from  our  perch.  Every 
last  wolf  was  dead,  and  we  returned  in  Dion's  vessel  to 
Laureion,  escorted  by  some  hundreds  of  air-ships.  They 
kept  streaming  out  of  the  city  as  we  approached,  and 
turning  as  they  met  us,  swelled  the  procession  to  such 
an  extent  that  we  seemed  to  be  returning  in  triumph 
from  a  great  victory. 

The  few  remaining  weeks  of  my  stay  in  Ionia  sped  by 
with  amazing  swiftness,  and  when  it  came  to  the  end  I 
was  perfectly  overwhelmed  with  the  kindness  of  those 
who  had  been  strangers  to  me  but  a  short  time  before, 
but  whom  I  now  regard  as  the  dearest  of  friends.  Every 
one  insisted  on  my  promising  to  come  again,  and  they 
loaded  me  with  presents  of  great  beauty  and  intrinsic 
value.  Not  the  least  prized  of  these  is  the  painting  by 
Daphne  of  our  siege  by  the  wolves,  which  now  hangs  in 
our  dining  room  at  the  Grange.  It  is  much  admired  by 
connoisseurs,  who  find  it  difficult  to  believe  that  it  is  the 
work  of  a  young  lady  of  twenty  summers,  for  they  declare 
it  to  be  a  master-piece  which  is  scarcely  equaled  in  the 
finest  galleries  of  Europe.  My  mother  is  very  proud  of 
it,  but  protests  that  she  can  never  look  at  it  without  fear 
and  trembling. 

On  the  last  day  of  my  stay  I  had  a  parting  interview 
with  the  venerable  archon.  Jason  went  with  me  to  the 
Acropolis,  and  Minos  spoke  with  great  kindness  and  feel 
ing,  saying  that  he  regretted  losing  me  as  a  citizen,  al 
though  he  could  not  but  commend  my  choice  of  return 
to  the  outer  world. 

"I  can  easily  find  it  in  my  heart,"  he  continued,  "to 

envy  the  part  you  propose  to  play,  for  you  are  young  and 

is 


IONIA. 

have,  I  trust,  a  long  life  before  you.  You  are  free  to  un 
dertake  the  cure  of  a  world  sick  with  innumerable  mala 
dies,  and  you  know  of  a  regime  which  will  infallibly  cure 
them  all,  if  you  can  but  succeed  in  getting  it  adopted. 
You  might  well  say  with  Hamlet  that  the  world  is  out 
of  joint,  but  you  need  not  regret  like  him  that  you  were 
born  to  set  it  right.  On  the  contrary,  you  must  feel  it 
a  great  privilege  to  make  the  attempt,  and  it  requires  no 
gift  of  prophecy  to  predict  that  you  will  succeed." 

"I  am  glad  to  hear  you  say  so,"  I  replied,  "but  there  is 
a  vast  mass  of  prejudice  to  be  overcome,  and  I  feel  that 
it  will  be  a  work  of  time  and  difficulty." 

"Undoubtedly,"  said  Minos,  "but  you  must  not  allow 
that  to  discourage  you.  I  do  not  say  that  the  story  of 
what  you  have  seen  here  will  be  believed  at  once,  or  that 
the  system  which  has  done  so  much  for  us  will  be  con 
sidered  applicable  to  other  conditions  of  society,  but 
sober  reason  and  sound  sense  will  ultimately  prevail. 
You  must  be  prepared  for  opposition  from  every  class  of 
society;  from  the  conservatives,  because  they  are  op 
posed  to  all  innovations;  from  liberals  and  reformers 
because  they  have  their  own  pet  schemes  for  ameliorat 
ing  the  condition  of  the  people,  and  are  unable  to  see  any 
virtue  in  other  methods;  from  the  privileged  classes  be 
cause  they  believe  that  their  advantage  consists  in  the 
maintenance  of  the  prevailing  injustice  and  inequality; 
from  the  very  religious  because  they  consider  sin  and 
suffering  indispensable  to  human  life  on  earth,  and 
would  look  upon  any  proposition  to  do  away  with  them 
entirely  as  little  short  of  impious.  You  must  be  pre 
pared  to  find  yourself  held  up  to  universal  scorn  and 
execration  as  one  who  presumes  to  interfere  with  the 
most  sacred  of  human  rights.  But  you  must  never  allow 
yourself  to  be  discouraged  under  any  circumstances.  If 


LAST   DAYS   IN   IONIA.  275 

the  people  of  England  will  not  listen  to  you,  those  of 
America  may;  and  if  not,  there  is  Australia,  there  is  New 
Zealand,  there  are  people  of  your  race  scattered  all  over 
the  globe,  and  the  smaller  the  community  the  greater  the 
chances  of  success  for  an  experiment  with  our  Ionian 
laws.  But  I  believe  that  you  will  meet  with  a  certain 
amount  of  sympathy  and  encouragement  wherever  you 
go.  There  are  reasonable  people  in  all  parts  of  the 
world  wrho  are  dissatisfied  with  the  existing  state  of  so 
ciety,  people  who  lament  the  miserable  terms  upon  which 
the  majority  of  their  fellow-creatures  are  compelled  to 
accept  existence,  and  who  will  gladly  listen  to  any  propo 
sition  which  offers  a  just  hope  of  radical  improvement. 
In  any  case  you  must  not  forget  that  you  have  warm 
friends  here  whose  best  wishes  go  with  you,  and  if  at  any 
time  you  should  feel  despondent  or  disposed  to  believe 
that  after  all  the  whole  world  may  be  right  and  yourself 
wrong,  just  come  back  to  Ionia  for  a  season,  and  I  am 
sure  that  you  will  find  such  sympathy  and  encourage 
ment  here  as  will  enable  you  to  renew  the  fight  with  un 
abated  vigor  and  determination  to  conquer." 

"I  thank  you,  Minos,"  said  I,  "for  all  your  kindness, 
and,  although  I  may  be  very  glad  to  accept  your  invita 
tion  and  come  back  for  a  time  to  renew  my  acquaintance 
with  the  noble  people  of  Ionia,  I  can  never  despair  of 
final  success  after  what  I  have  already  seen  of  their  great 
achievements.  Through  you  I  would  express  my  grati 
tude  to  them  all,  and  now  I  must  say  farewell." 

"Good-bye,  Alexander.  I  am  an  old  man,  but  I  do  not 
despair  of  seeing  you  again.  I  shall  hear  of  you  in  any 
case,  and  you  take  my  best  wishes  for  success,  and  an  old 
man's  blessing." 

That  same  evening  I  sailed  away  over  the  lake  from 


276  IONIA. 

lolkos  as  the  sun  was  setting,  and  as  the  beautiful  city 
faded  from  my  sight  I  felt  like  a  lost  soul  shut  out  of 
paradise,  and  if  Jason  had  not  accompanied  me  I  should 
have  given  way  to  the  utmost  dejection;  but  he  allowed 
me  little  time  to  think  of  all  the  dear  friends  and  pleasant 
scenes  I  was  leaving  behind,  talking  cheerily  of  future 
visits  and  of  all  the  great  things  he  expected  me  to  ac 
complish.  He  accompanied  me  for  several  days,  and  did 
not  leave  me  till  I  was  on  board  ship  at  Bombay.  He 
even  seemed  sorry  to  let  me  go  then,  and,  as  we  stood  at 
the  ship's  side,  insisted  on  my  promising  to  return  at  no 
distant  date. 

"For  you  know,"  said  he,  "that  I  look  upon  you  as 
one  of  my  family,  and  I  have  some  qualms  of  conscience 
in  allowing  you  to  undertake  this  great  mission  alone. 
Ever  since  I  commenced  to  mingle  with  the  people  of 
Europe  I  have  felt  that  we  were  in  some  manner  called 
upon  to  open  their  eyes  to  the  folly  of  continuing  from 
generation  to  generation  to  cultivate  ignorance  and  dis 
ease  and  crime,  knowing  as  we  did  that  all  these  evils  can 
be  eradicated  by  the  simplest  means.  The  convictions 
of  our  ruling  men,  however,  were  not  to  be  disregarded, 
and  I  could  only  look  for  another  to  take  up  the  task 
I  was  not  in  a  position  to  assume.  I  found  in  you  the 
man  I  wanted,  but  my  feeling  for  you  has  become  like 
that  of  father  to  son,  and  I  almost  feel  ashamed  to  de 
volve  upon  your  young  shoulders  the  duty  which  at  times 
I  have  felt  should  be  mine." 

"Your  kindness  is  too  great,  Jason,  but  as  I  never 
knew  my  father,  I  shall  be  glad  always  to  think  of  you  in 
that  relation.  And  if  anything  should  encourage  me  to 
assume  with  confidence  the  great  work  before  me  it  is 
that  you  have  thought  me  worthy  of  it." 


CONCLUSION.  27? 

"I  am  sure  of  it,  Alexander,  and  there  is  much  in  what 
Minos  said:  it  is  a  great  privilege  as  well  as  a  great  re 
sponsibility.  Good-bye,  my  son.  Remember  that  Ionia 
expects  great  things  from  you." 


CHAPTER    XIV. 
CONCLUSION. 

London  seemed  to  me  to  be  very  much  changed  for 
the  worse  when  I  got  back  from  the  East.  The  smoke 
which  filled  the  air  obscuring  the  light,  and  rendering 
breathing  difficult;  the  accumulated  grime  of  years 
streaking  the  public  buildings  with  sooty  black;  the 
mud  and  filth  of  many  of  the  streets;  the  employment 
of  animals  for  the  movement  of  vehicles,  animals  with 
iron-shod  feet,  calculated  to  destroy  the  best  pavements 
in  the  shortest  time;  the  poverty  of  design  and  material 
in  most  of  the  buildings,  and  the  utter  absence  of  har 
mony  or  congruity  of  architecture  in  the  structures  of 
each  street  or  block;  all  these  combined  impressed  me 
with  the  crudeness  of  our  so-called  civilization. 

But  what  I  saw  of  the  people  themselves  affected  me 
still  more  unpleasantly.  It  was  a  raw  March  day,  with 
a  chill  east  wind,  and  I  saw  with  sorrow  and  shame  poor 
little  children  and  wretched-looking  old  men  and  wo 
men  dressed  in  scanty,  thread-bare  garments,  shivering 
with  cold.  A  blind  old  man  begging  for  public  charity; 
a  blaspheming,  drunken  wretch  with  his  coat  in  rags 
staggering  down  an  alley,  followed  by  a  troop  of  boys 
who  pelted  him  with  mud  and  stones,  yelling  after  him  in 
fiendish  glee;  an  unhappy  urchin,  discovered  in  some 
petty  crime,  and  dragged  off  to  jail  by  a  policeman,  the 


278  IONIA. 

sulky  scowl  of  ignorance  distorting  his  features;  such 
things  as  these  seen  from  a  cab  as  I  passed  from  station 
to  station,  things  which  formerly  I  should  have  taken  as 
a  matter  of  course,  now  affected  me  very  painfully. 
Knowing  that  my  mother  awaited  me  anxiously,  I  meant 
to  take  the  very  first  train  for  Chingford,  but  as  I  passed 
through  .the  city,  I  felt  as  if  I  could  not  bring  myself  to 
endure  its  obnoxious  sights  and  sounds  for  many  a  day 
to  come.  The  people  all  seemed  to  me  to  be  dwarfed  in 
stature,  homely  in  feature,  and  clumsy  in  figure,  and 
very  badly  dressed.  Care  and  trouble  seemed  to  cloud 
every  brow  except  the  very  youngest,  and  to  have  left  its 
traces  in  lines  and  wrinkles  which  never  could  be 
smoothed  away.  I  had  been  sojourning  amongst  the 
gods,  and  the  faces  of  ordinary  mortals  seemed  mean 
and  abject  by  comparison.  When  I  got  down  at  the 
station  I  paid  the  cabman  double  or  triple  fare,  and  he 
bowed  and  touched  his  hat  with  fawning  servility.  This 
made  me  feel  like  kicking  him,  and  I  blushed  for  shame 
to  think  that  Englishmen  could  be  such  slaves. 

Fortunately,  I  had  not  long  to  wait  for  a  train,  and 
when  I  reached  home  my  mother's  loving  welcome 
made  me  forget  the  unpleasantness  of  my  drive  through 
London. 

After  dinner  we  sat  and  talked  as  we  had  so  often  done 
together  when  I  was  a  boy.  Mother  said: 

"You  have  no  idea,  my  son,  how  long  your  absence 
has  appeared  to  me.  It  seemed  as  if  these  six  months 
would  never  come  to  an  end,  and  at  times  I  felt  as  if  I 
never  should  live  through  it.  But  I  knew  from  your  let 
ters  that  you  were  enjoying  your  visit  more  than  you 
could  tell  in  words,  and  I  tried  to  make  you  believe  that 
the  time  passed  tolerably  well  with  me." 

"Mother,  I  shall  never  leave  you  so  long  alone  again." 


CONCLUSION.  279 

"What,  after  tasting  the  joys  of  this  earthly  paradise, 
do  you  think  you  will  ever  be  content  away  from  it?" 

"My  duty  requires  it.  But  I  am  free  to  visit  Ionia 
again,  and  have  the  most  pressing  invitation  to  return 
when  I  please,  and  to  take  you  with  me  if  you  will  con 
sent  to  go,  which  I  sincerely  hope  you  will." 

"What,  you  want  your  old  mother  to  take  a  flying 
trip  through  the  air  like  a  witch  on  a  broom-stick?  I 
am  surprised  to  hear  you  suggest  it." 

"My  dear  mother,  I  protest  against  such  language,  for 
in  the  first  place  you  are  not  old,  and  in  the  second  place 
you  could  make  the  trip  without  the  slightest  sacrifice 
either  of  dignity  or  safety.  You  take  your  seat  in  a 
most  comfortable  car  just  as  you  would  in  a  railway  car 
riage,  and  electricity  does  all  the  rest." 

"But  I  should  die  of  fright.  I  do  not  think  you  will 
ever  be  able  to  persuade  me  to  go,  but  of  course  that 
need  not  prevent  your  going  by  yourself  some  time  or 
other,  but  not  for  a  good  long  while.  Now,  I  wish  to 
ask  you  one  thing:  Did  you  lose  your  heart  in  Ionia? 
Did  you  fall  in  love  with  any  of  the  beautiful  young  wo 
men  you  described  in  terms  of  such  unbounded  admira 
tion?" 

"I  think  not,  mother.  Indeed  I  took  special  pains  to 
guard  against  any  such  catastrophe.  It  would  have  been 
the  sheerest  presumption  in  me  to  pay  my  addresses  to 
any  of  these  adorable  women,  for  in  the  first  place,  they 
are  all  too  good  for  me,  and  in  the  second  place  I  could 
not  ask  one  of  them  to  live  with  me  in  this  unhappy  out 
side  world  any  more  than  I  could  ask  to  drag  an  angel 
down  from  heaven." 

My  mother  looked  grave  at  this,  and  said : 

"I  think  you  humiliate  yourself  too  much.  At  least 
you  must  allow  me  to  differ  from  you  to  this  extent,  that 


280  IONIA. 

I  think  no  woman  on  earth  can  be  too  good  for  my  boy." 

"Ah,  but  mother,  you  have  not  seen  these  lonians, 
and  until  you  have  seen  them,  you  will  never  know  how 
perfect  in  form  and  feature  they  are,  nor  how  to  all  the 
personal  graces  they  unite  those  of  the  mind  and  heart. 
You  cannot  understand  how  different  our  own  people 
look  to  me  since.  All  the  faces  I  saw  in  London  looked 
to  me  like  caricatures;  those  of  the  men  as  well  as  the 
women.  Faces  that  I  should  formerly  have  thought 
handsome  strike  me  now  as  remarkable  only  for  the  lack 
of  something  necessary  to  make  them  really  attractive. 
Whether  in  form,  complexion  or  expression,  all  ap 
peared  to  have  some  conspicuous  defect." 

"Now,  if  you  say  much  more  I  shall  begin  to  hate 
your  Ionian  friends.  Even  your  poor  mother,  I  suppose, 
seems  to  you  a  very  inferior  sort  of  person,  now  that  you 
have  come  back  to  your  own  poor  country." 

"No,  no,  you  must  not  entertain  that  idea  for  a  single 
moment.  You  know  that  I  have  always  thought  you 
the  best  woman  on  earth,  and  I  think  so  still.  Without 
the  advantage  of  being  born  in  Ionia,  you  have  all  the 
grace  and  all  the  sweetness  of  perfect  womanhood,  and 
therefore  I  honor  you  more  than  all  of  them.  You  are 
enshrined  in  my  inmost  heart,  and  shall  be  so  while  I 
live." 

"I  fear  you  are  flattering  me,  my  boy,  and  yet  I  could 
not  bear  to  imagine  you  thought  any  less  of  me  than  you 
have  always  done,  so  I  will  try  not  to  be  jealous  of  Leda 
and  Daphne,  and  the  rest  of  them.  And  now  that  I  have 
you  safe  home  again,  I  trust  you  will  stay  with  me  for 
some  time,  but  I  suppose  you  will  be  running  off  to  Lon 
don  to  see  how  things  are  going  on  in  that  dreary  east 
end  parish." 

"No,  mother,  I  am  not  going  to  leave  you.    The  work 


CONCLUSION.  281 

in  London  is  in  good  hands,  and  does  not  need  my  su 
pervision.  I  should  like  to  hear  what  is  going  on, 
but  instead  of  running  up  there  myself,  I  propose  to  in 
vite  Mr.  Calderwood  and  one  of  the  young  men  down 
here  for  a  day  or  two.  The  rest  will  do  them  good,  and 
they  can  tell  me  all  I  need  to  know.  Besides,  I  should 
like  to  talk  with  them  about  all  I  have  seen  and  learned 
while  I  have  been  away,  and  get  their  advice  as  to  the 
work  which  lies  before  me." 

"I  see  your  old  enthusiasm  is  not  dead,  but  seeks  a 
wider  field.  You  were  once  ambitious  to  save  the  Lon 
don  poor,  and  now  you  dream  of  raising  the  whole  hu 
man  race  to  the  standard  of  Ionia." 

"My  past  experience  teaches  me  to  expect  failure 
rather  than  success,  but  I  must  do  what  I  can  for  my 
poor  fellow-creatures." 

"And  if  a  mother's  prayers  will  help  you,  success  will 
surely  crown  your  efforts." 

Within  a  week  the  rector  of  St.  Oswald's  came  to  the 
Grange,  and  with  him  my  agent,  Mr.  Manson.  They 
enjoyed  a  few  days  of  rest  and  change,  and  gave  me  all 
the  news  of  our  London  enterprise,  and  I  related  to  them 
my  wonderful  experiences  in  the  East,  substantially  as  I 
have  done  in  the  foregoing  pages.  They  listened  with 
wonder  and  admiration  to  all  the  strange  things  I  had  to 
tell  them,  but  seemed  somewhat  bewildered  by  the  new 
light  thrown  upon  the  old  question  of  helping  down 
trodden  humanity,  which  both  had  grappled  with  like 
earnest,  single-hearted  men  as  they  are.  I  let  them 
think  it  over  without  asking  for  their  opinions  till  the 
last  evening  of  their  stay,  when  I  had  my  grandfather, 
Dr.  Wolverton,  over  from  the  rectory  to  dinner,  after 
which  we  all  repaired  to  the  library  and  seated  ourselves 
round  a  glowing  fire  of  logs,  the  cheering  comfort  of 


282  IONIA. 

which  was  intensified  by  the  wind  and  rain  beating  spite 
fully  upon  the  windows.  The  old  doctor  occupied  a 
great  arm-chair  on  one  side  of  the  fire,  with  Mr.  Calder- 
wood  next  to  him;  my  mother  sat  opposite,  and  I  by  her 
side,  while  the  young  curate  sat  in  the  center,  and  com 
pleted  the  semi-circle. 

The  two  rectors  had  talked  all  through  the  dinner 
about  the  days  of  their  youth,  and  the  changes  that  had 
taken  place  in  church  and  state  since  then,  and  would 
have  kept  on  with  their  reminiscences  till  morning,  but 
when  we  were  fairly  seated  in  the  library,  I  told  them 
that  I  wished  to  hear  what  they  had  to  say  about  the  use 
I  ought  to  make  of  the  great  privileges  which  had  been 
accorded  to  me  in  becoming  acquainted  with  the  people 
of  Ionia  and  learning  their  remarkable  history. 

"You  have  heard  my  story,"  said  I.     "You  know  how, 
in  an  obscure  corner  of  the  earth,  a  race  of  husbandmen 
and  soldiers  has  grappled  with  the  problems  which  have 
baffled  the  greatest  nations  of  the  earth,  and  solved  them 
with  such  triumphant  success  that  they  are  now  a  thou 
sand  years  ahead  of  the  rest  of  the  world  in  all  that  con 
cerns  the  grandeur  and  the  happiness  of  mankind.     The 
means  by  which  they  have  arrived  at  such  an  enviable  re 
sult,  appear  to  me  so  simple  and  so  sure,  that  no  people 
or  state  which  has  the  wisdom  to  adopt  them  can  fail  of 
accomplishing  the  same  end.    But  there  is  a  vast  mass  of 
prejudice  and  ignorance  to  be  overcome  before  the  first 
beginnings  can  be  made,  and  I  ask  you,  who  are  my 
oldest  and  dearest  friends,  to  tell  me  unreservedly  what 
you  think  of  the  prospects  of  success  in  the  proclamation 
of  this  simple  gospel  of  reason  and  common  sense." 
After  a  short  pause,  my  grandfather  said: 
"I  am  almost  too  old  to  understand  ideas  so  contrary 
to  all  that  we  have  grown  to  consider  as  the  fundamental 


CONCLUSION.  283 

principles  of  society.  We  have  been  taught  that  the 
poor  should  be  always  with  us,  and  that  in  some  respects 
it  is  better  to  be  poor  than  to  be  rich,  Tor  it  is  easier  for 
a  camel  to  pass  through  a  needle's  eye  than  for  a  rich 
man  to  enter  into  the  kingdom  of  heaven.'  I  should  be 
the  last  to  discourage  you  in  what  you  conceive  to  be 
your  duty,  but  at  my  time  of  life  it  is  difficult  to  conceive 
of  a  world  where  there  should  not  be  rich  and  poor,  and 
the  one  appears  to  me  the  necessary  complement  of  the 
other:  the  poor  to  perform  all  those  tasks  which  are 
unfit  for  people  of  refinement  and  education,  the  rich  to 
help  the  poor  and,  in  doing  so,  develop  those  instincts  of 
charity  and  benevolence  which  modify  and  excuse  the 
selfishness  of  wealth.  So  far  as  I  am  able  to  see,  the 
poor  around  us  are  contented  and  happy,  and  with  fewer 
wants  and  cares,  probably  derive  as  much  enjoyment 
from  life  as  those  in  higher  station." 

"But,  my  friend,"  broke  in  the  London  rector,  "you  do 
not — excuse  my  saying  it — you  do  not  know  what  real 
poverty  is.  In  the  country  the  numbers  of  the  hopeless 
poor  are  few,  and  their  rich  neighbors  never  allow  them 
to  starve  or  die  from  sheer  neglect.  And  they  have  sun 
shine  and  pure  air  in  abundance,  and  the  glory  and  the 
beauty  of  nature  all  around  them.  And  in  your  own 
parish  in  particular,  where  your  daughter  has  worked 
such  miracles,  the  pressure  of  poverty  is  unknown.  But 
if  you  could  see  the  poor  in  London,  crowded  together 
in  filthy  tenements,  where  a  breath  of  pure  air  is  unat 
tainable,  where  vice  and  disease  and  poisonous  drinks 
hold  perpetual  carnival;  if  you  could  see  little  children 
growing  up  under  such  conditions  and  becoming  stunted 
and  depraved,  without  the  opportunity  or  the  will  to  learn 
of  anything  better,  and  doomed  from  the  cradle  to  a  life 
of  misery  and  shame,  you  could  not  think  of  poverty  as  a 


284  IONIA. 

condition  of  things  to  be  tolerated  by  good  men  and  wo 
men,  if  there  is  any  possibility  of  getting  rid  of  it.  What 
say  yon,  Mr.  Manson?" 

"I  feel  as  you  do,"  said  that  gentleman.  'The  poverty 
we  know — and  having  come  into  daily  contact  with  it,  we 
know  it  only  too  well — is  a  disgrace  to  our  boasted  civili 
zation,  and  a  curse  which  may  be  the  ruin  of  England, 
unless  some  means  are  found  to  cope  with  it  more  effec 
tually  than  any  that  have  yet  been  tried." 

"I  see,"  said  my  grandfather,  "that  I  am  in  no  posi 
tion  to  speak  on  this  subject,  and  I  bow  to  your  superior 
judgment.  But  my  grandson's  idea,  if  I  understand  him 
rightly,  is  to  do  away  with  not  only  the  vicious  poverty 
of  cities,  but  also  the  respectable  poverty  of  the  country. 
In  this  strange  country  he  has  just  visited  he  found  all 
the  people  educated  and  cultured  to  a  degree  that  the 
best  of  us  have  not  attained  to  here.  Miners  and  fisher 
men,  mechanics  and  wagon  drivers,  and  household  ser 
vants,  too,  have  all  been  through  college,  and  are  able 
to  hold  their  own  in  the  most  abstract  fields  of  learning 
with  university  professors  and  statesmen.  That  is  a 
condition  of  things  which  I  am  unable  to  comprehend. 
If  we  have  no  poor  people  to  perform  the  drudgery  of 
life  I  cannot  understand  how  every-day  life  can  be  car 
ried  on  at  all.  Then,  if  there  is  no  class  enjoying  great 
wealth,  but  all  reduced  to  one  uniform  level,  what  be 
comes  of  our  noble  palaces  and  the  beautiful  parks  and 
woods  which  are  the  ornament  of  the  country?" 

"The  noble  parks  and  palaces  will  be  there  just  the 
same,"  said  I,  "but  instead  of  being  inhabited  by  one  or 
two  persons  for  a  portion  of  the  year,  they  will  con 
tribute  to  the  health  and  enjoyment  of  the  whole  people 
at  all  times  when  their  possession  is  most  desirable.  As 
for  bringing  all  men  to  the  same  level,  there  can  be  no 


CONCLUSION.  285 

objection  to  that,  provided  the  level  is  constantly  being 
raised  higher  and  higher,  and  consists  not  in  dragging 
down  those  who  are  above,  but  in  raising  those  who  are 
below.  However,  no  such  result  will  ever  come  to  pass, 
for  there  will  always  be  some  who  have  greater  ability  to 
make  money  than  others,  and  there  will  be  enough  for 
all  to  have  sufficient,  while  some  have  a  superfluity.  All 
that  is  necessary  is  to  guard  against  the  extremes,  which 
are  harmful  to  all  alike. 

"I  cannot  agree  with  you  in  thinking  it  necessary  that 
human  beings  should  ever  be  compelled  to  live  by  drudg 
ery.  I  understand  the  word  to  mean  mere  mechanical 
labor,  without  skill  or  the  exercise  of  any  intellectual 
force,  and  such  labor  in  my  opinion  should  always  be  per 
formed  by  machinery  and  not  by  men  or  women,  and  so 
it  is  in  Ionia.  I  went  into  the  mines  there,  and  in  place 
of  scores  of  men  working  with  picks  in  painful  and 
cramped  positions,  I  saw  machines  that  would  perform 
the  labor  of  fifty  men  directed  by  one.  The  ore  was 
sawed  out,  broken  into  blocks,  and  dumped  into  wagons 
with  a  precision  and  speed  that  were  perfectly  astonish 
ing.  And  so  it  is  in  every  department  of  industry,  even 
down  to  the  housework  of  the  women.  They  have  cun 
ning  machines  for  sweeping,  scrubbing,  laundry  work, 
and  even  for  the  washing  of  dishes.  And  the  only  thing 
that  prevents  us  from  doing  all  our  drudgery  by  machin 
ery  is  the  lamentable  cheapness  and  redundancy  of  hu 
man  labor.  The  production  of  human  drudges  goes  on 
without  let  or  hindrance,  and  the  poor  creatures  are  jeal 
ous  of  the  introduction  of  new  machinery  lest  it  take  the 
bread  out  of  their  mouths.  The  trades  unions  are 
banded  together  against  new  inventions  just  because 
these  tend  to  facilitate  production  and  increase  the  re 
turns  of  labor.  But  the  moment  you  put  a  check  on  the 


286  IONIA. 

unlimited  production  of  laborers  the  keen  competition 
amongst  them  will  be  reduced,  the  market  value  will  rise 
with  the  skill  of  each  pair  of  hands,  and  necessity  will 
bring  forth  innumerable  inventions  for  which,  at  present, 
there  is  no  occasion." 

"And  this  brings  you,"  said  Dr.  Wolverton,  "to  the 
main  question,  whether  it  is  practicable  to  limit  the  right 
of  reproduction  in  a  country  enjoying  the  blessing  of  free 
institutions.  The  old  commandment:  'Be  fruitful  and 
multiply  and  replenish  the  earth,'  has  been  held  until  now 
to  be  binding  upon  all,  and  every  man  who  takes  to  him 
self  a  wife  and  adds  to  the  population  by  producing  nu 
merous  offspring  has  been  supposed  to  be  performing  a 
public  duty.  It  may  be  that  the  earth  is  now  sufficiently 
replenished,  and  that  it  is  time  to  call  a  halt  and  pay  some 
attention  to  the  quality  of  the  offspring,  rather  than  to  the 
quantity  of  it,  but  we  old  folks  have  been  accustomed  to 
think  that  nature's  law  and  that  of  the  Bible  were  in  such 
perfect  agreement  on  this  point  that  any  interference 
with  them  would  partake  of  the  nature  of  blasphemy  and 
be  foredoomed  to  failure. 

"You  see,  I  am  speaking  out  plainly,  as  you  requested, 
not  from  any  wish  to  discourage  you,  but  rather  to  indi 
cate  the  reception  which  your  new  gospel  is  likely  to  re 
ceive  at  the  hands  of  old-fashioned  people.  But  I  should 
be  glad  to  hear  what  my  old  friend  Calderwood  has  to 
say  on  the  subject." 

"The  authority  and  example  of  the  great  apostle  Paul," 
said  the  London  rector,  "is  surely  sufficient  to  justify  us 
in  regarding  the  commandment  you  have  quoted  as  one 
which  is  not  universally  binding.  When  a  man  has  work 
to  do  which  demands  all  his  energy,  and  all  his  thought, 
no  one  thinks  any  the  less  of  him  for  declining  to  burden 
himself  with  family  ties.  The  Roman  Catholic  Church, 


CONCLUSION.  287 

which  for  so  many  hundred  years  was  the  only  church  of 
the  greater  part  of  Europe,  has  sealed  the  custom  of 
celibacy  with  its  approval,  and  the  system  has  undoubt 
edly  produced  many  saints  of  both  sexes.  We  Protest 
ants  do  not  approve  of  it,  but  at  the  same  time,  we  think 
none  the  less  of  its  priests  or  its  sisters  of  charity  as  indi 
viduals,  because  they  deny  themselves  the  comforts  of 
marriage.  On  the  other  hand,  I  confess  that  my  par 
ochial  duties  have  brought  me  into  contact  with  thou 
sands  and  tens  of  thousands  of  children,  yes,  and  grown 
up  men  and  women,  too,  of  whom  it  might  truly  be  said 
that  it  would  have  been  better  if  they  had  never  been 
born.  Now,  if  there  be  any  means  by  which  the  state 
can  prevent  the  birth  of  these  miserable  creatures,  so 
ciety  would  be  the  gainer  to  an  incalculable  extent.  It 
appears  to  me  that  only  good  citizens  should  enjoy  the 
rights  of  citizens,  and  that  those  who  contribute  nothing 
to  the  public  well-being  should  be  treated  in  such  fash 
ion  as  the  health  and  prosperity  of  the  community  de 
mand,  consistently  with  the  dictates  of  humanity  and 
mercy.  To  that  extent,  at  least,  I  am  in  entire  sympathy 
with  the  law  of  marriage,  which  Mr.  Musgrave  assures 
us  has  produced  such  wonderfully  beneficial  results  to 
the  people  of  Ionia.  Whether  it  is  practicable  in  a  free 
country  like  ours,  is  a  question  which  requires  the  most 
serious  consideration." 

"Now,  Mr.  Manson,"  said  I,  "it  is  your  turn  to  speak. 
I  am  sure  that  you  have  something  to  say  on  this  mo 
mentous  question,  and  I  beg  of  you  to  give  me  your 
opinion  candidly  and  without  reserve." 

"I  shall  do  so  with  much  pleasure,"  said  he,  "and  have 
no  occasion  for  reserving  any  of  my  thoughts,  for  my 
sympathies  are  entirely  with  you  in  the  ideas  you  have 
imbibed  from  your  noble  friends  on  the  other  side  of  the 


288  IONIA. 

world.  To  me  their  story  is  a  revelation  of  hope  and  joy 
for  humanity.  I  have  long  felt  that  our  modern  Euro 
pean  society  was  the  worst  kind  of  sham  and  fraud;  like 
a  whited  sepulchre  above,  but  full  of  rottenness  and  dead 
men's  bones  below.  Here  in  this  island  are  thirty  mil 
lions  of  people,  of  whom  half  a  million  revel  in  luxury, 
two  or  three  millions  enjoy  a  fair  measure  of  comfort 
and  such  intellectual  and  artistic  pleasure  as  make  life 
tolerable,  and  all  the  rest  endure  existence  without  hope, 
and  with  little  more  of  comfort  than  the  beasts  of  the 
field.  You  speak  of  the  rural  poor  as  being  well  off 
compared  to  the  wretched  creatures  who  crawl  through 
the  slums  of  London.  But,  tell  me,  are  my  lord's  horses 
and  his  dogs  not  vastly  better  off  than  the  laborers  who 
cultivate  his  estate?  They  are  better  fed  and  better 
housed;  every  precaution  is  taken  that  their  health  may 
not  be  injured,  and  that  they  are  not  injured  by  over 
work.  The  laborers  have  to  toil  early  and  late  in  all 
sorts  of  weathers;  rheumatism  and  ague  work  their  will 
upon  them,  and  they  have  no  hope  but  in  the  grave. 
The  workmen  of  our  cities  are  little  better  off;  their 
pleasures  are  few,  and  their  hardships  many,  and  if  they 
can  keep  themselves  and  their  children  from  pauperism 
it  is  the  utmost  they  can  expect.  True,  they  are  used  to 
it,  and  their  spiritual  directors  admonish  them  to  be  con 
tent  with  the  station  to  which  God  has  called  them.  But 
I  protest  against  such  canting  hypocrisy.  God  never 
made  this  beautiful  world  to  be  peopled  by  a  race  of  toil 
ing  slaves,  and  it  is  no  wonder  that  our  jails  and  our 
workhouses  are  filled,  and  that  crime  and  vice  and  strong 
drink  claim  their  victims  by  the  hundred  thousand. 

"And  what  have  we  done  for  it  all?  We  have  built 
churches  and  schools;  we  have  had  temperance  cru 
sades  and  salvation  army  campaigns,  but  what  does  it  all 


CONCLUSION.  289 

amount  to?  Some  few  have  been  dragged  from  the  low 
est  depths  of  vice  and  misery,  some  few  have  been  saved 
from  falling  into  degradation  and  crime,  but  the  cess 
pools  of  society  are  as  foul  as  ever,  and  condi 
tions  which  contribute  to  human  guilt  and  misery  re 
main  unchanged.  I  have  mourned  over  the  prospect  till 
my  heart  has  ached  with  despair,  for  I  could  not  see  a 
ray  of  hope  anywhere,  and  I  have  looked  upon  the  con 
dition  of  humanity  in  this  world  as  hopeless.  I  have 
said  to  myself  that,  unless  human  nature  can  be 
changed,  toil  and  hopeless  misery  must  continue  to  be 
the  lot  of  the  vast  mass  of  men  and  women.  But  now 
comes  Mr.  Musgrave  with  proofs  that  human  nature  can 
indeed  be  changed;  that  in  one  blessed  spot  of  earth  it 
has  been  transformed  so  that  the  inhabitants  are  more 
like  the  angels  of  heaven  than  the  weak  and  wicked 
creatures  which  disgrace  our  great  centers  of  popula 
tion.  And  the  means  are  so  simple  and  obvious  that  the 
wonder  is  wre  never  thought  of  them  before.  We  have 
improved  our  fruits  and  our  flowers,  our  dogs  and  our 
horses,  and  our  cattle,  so  that  they  could  hardly  be 
known  for  the  same  by  one  who  had  not  watched  all  the 
stages  of  the  process.  And  why  have  we  not  applied  the 
same  methods  to  our  own  species,  which  needed  im 
provement  vastly  more  than  all  the  rest?  It  can  hardly 
be  said  that  we  doubted  nature's  power  to  help  us  in  this 
as  it  has  done  in  the  case  of  inferior  creatures.  On  the 
contrary,  we  knew  it  all  the  time;  we  knew  that  as  we 
could  not  expect  to  gather  grapes  from  thorns,  nor  figs 
from  thistles,  it  would  be  foolish  to  expect  the  children 
of  the  vicious  and  depraved  to  be  moral  and  virtuous. 
But  we  have  never  made  the  slightest  effort  to  check  the 
begetting  of  drunkards  and  criminals,  and  our  feeble 
19 


290  IONIA. 

and  paltry  attempts  to  stop  the  tide  of  mischief  at  the 
flood  were  foredoomed  to  failure. 

"It  is  strange  that  we  have  been  blind  so  long,  and  I, 
for  one,  feel  inexpressibly  thankful  to  Mr.  Musgrave  for 
having  opened  my  eyes.  Tell  your  story  to  the  world, 
Mr.  Musgrave,  and  do  not  despair  of  results.  Those 
who  are  interested  in  maintaining  the  present  unhappy 
state  of  things  may  jeer  and  deride,  for  the  redemp 
tion  of  humanity  is  a  jest  to  them,  but  sooner  or  later 
the  seed  will  bear  fruit,  and  the  path  which  the  lonians 
have  beaten  out  will  be  followed  by  every  nation  which 
aims  to  rank  amongst  the  leaders  of  civilization." 

"I  thank  you,  Mr.  Manson,"  said  I,  "for  these  en 
couraging  words.  I  have  no  fear  for  the  future,  but  it 
is  most  comforting  to  know  that  others  share  my  hopes." 

''Behold  the  enthusiasm  of  youth,"  said  Dr.  Wolver- 
ton.  "It  sees  no  difficulties,  and  makes  light  of  preju 
dices  which  are  the  growth  of  centuries;  the  future  dream 
seems  to  it  like  the  present  reality,  and  the  mirage  on  the 
horizon  appears  to  be  a  smiling  oasis  but  a  few  steps  off. 
While  we  old  fellows  grope  and  stumble  in  the  dark,  the 
young  ones  bound  forward  with  all  the  sanguine  hopes 
of  the  morning.  Your  ideas  may  be  all  right,  my  young 
friends,  and  I  sincerely  trust  that  success  may  yet  crown 
your  efforts,  but  it  is  not  easy  to  take  the  world  by  storm, 
and  I  confess  that  I  do  not  see  the  way  as  clearly  as  you 
do.  The  changes  that  have  been  made  in  the  physical 
world  do  not  guarantee  that  corresponding  changes  can 
be  accomplished  in  mental  and  moral  fields.  Your 
whole  plan  is  based  on  the  assumption  that  children  will 
always  resemble  their  parents — is  it  not?" 

"In  a  general  way  it  is,"  said  I.  "Every  man  and  every 
woman  is  such  as  he  and  she  are  by  reason  of  the  quali 
ties  inherited  from  their  parents  or  other  ancestors, 


CONCLUSION. 

modified  by  education  and  circumstances.  I  think  there 
can  be  no  gainsaying  that." 

"Maybe  not,  but  we  have  not  all  been  accustomed  to 
think  so.  It  used  to  be  considered  that  while  physical 
qualities  were  inherited,  mental  qualities  were  not." 

''Then  how  is  it  that  an  Englishman's  brain  is  larger 
than  a  Hottentot's?" 

"Oh,  that  is  simply  a  matter  of  race." 

"But  a  man's  connection  with  his  race  comes  entirely 
through  his  father  and  mother.  If  you  bring  a  Hotten 
tot  man  and  woman  to  England  their  children  will  still 
be  Hottentots.  You  may  even  adopt  them  into  English 
families,  and  give  them  the  training  of  English  children, 
but  they  will  never  develop  into  Englishmen,  and  at  the 
first  opportunity  they  will  return  to  the  bush  and  throw 
off  the  varnish  of  civilization  with  their  clothes,  and  be 
come  savages  just  like  their  ancestors.  That  has  been 
proved  repeatedly,  and  cannot  be  denied.  On  the  other 
hand,  certain  families  of  Englishmen  have  shown  the 
same  mental  qualities  from  generation  to  generation. 
Some  have  been  prolific  in  statesmen,  others  in  scholars, 
and  still  others  in  bankers  and  merchants.  We  do  not 
expect  the  same  mental  ability  in  the  children  of  laborers 
and  those  of  lawyers,  simply  because  the  former  inherit 
brains  that  are  inferior  to  those  of  the  latter." 

"Then  why  is  it  that  genius  is  so  seldom  inherited?" 

"Because  every  man  inherits  the  qualities  of  both  his 
parents  in  greater  or  less  proportion,  and  not  only  so, 
but  he  inherits  some  of  the  qualities  of  ancestors  farther 
back  than  either.  A  man  may  be  more  like  his  grand 
father  than  his  father,  or  he  may  inherit  some  peculiar 
trait  from  a  remote  ancestor  which  has  passed  both  his 
father  and  his  grandfather  by.  But  these  instances  are 
exceptional;  as  a  general  rule  children  resemble  their 


292  IONIA. 

parents  mentally,  morally  and  physically.  Now,  since 
genius  implies  a  rare  combination  of  qualities,  and  it  is  a 
very  rare  thing  for  a  man  of  genius  to  marry  a  woman 
of  genius,  it  would  be  unreasonable  to  expect  his  chil 
dren  to  resemble  him  in  the  extraordinary  conjunction 
of  faculties  which  place  him  in  his  own  particular  sphere 
away  above  other  men.  And  yet  it  happens  sometimes: 
the  two  Pitts  in  statesmanship,  the  two  Dumas  in  litera 
ture,  the  two  Stephensons  in  mechanics,  and  the  two 
Herschells  in  astronomy,  are  instances  amongst  many 
which  might  be  mentioned." 

"Pass  that  point,  then,"  said  my  grandfather,  "and  let  it 
be  admitted,  for  the  sake  of  argument,  that  children  of 
intellectual  parents  resemble  them  intellectually;  do  you 
not  think  you  are  expecting  too  much  of  human  nature 
to  believe,  that  people  who  are  defective  either  physically 
or  mentally  will  submit  to  be  deprived  of  the  comforts 
of  marriage  for  the  benefit  of  future  generations?" 

"No  right  thinking  man  whose  family  is  tainted  with 
lunacy  would  seek  to  become  a  father,"  said  Mr.  Man- 
son. 

"Nor  any  sensible  woman,  who  knows  that  she  is 
positively  ugly,  to  become  a  mother,"  said  I. 

"No  man  whose  lungs  are  weak  should  ever  wish  to 
marry,"  said  Mr.  Manson. 

"Nor  any  woman  who  is  tainted  with  scrofula,"  said  I. 

"Cut  the  list  short,"  said  the  reverend  doctor.  "We 
are  not  speaking  about  what  ought  to  be,  but  what 
actually  is.  You  know  such  people  as  you  speak  of  do 
get  married  every  day,  and  pass  on  their  infirmities  and 
defects  to  their  children." 

"That  is  the  very  reason  why  we  propose  to  have  the 
state  step  in  and  prevent  them  doing  what  their  own 
consciences  ought  to  forbid." 


CONCLUSION.  293 

"But  we  are  discussing  the  case  of  a  country  like  this, 
which  is  governed  by  the  votes  of  the  people  themselves. 
If  you  can  find  another  Timoleon  and  give  him  despotic 
power,  no  doubt  you  could  accomplish  all  you  wish,  but 
how  you  can  prevail  upon  a  democracy  to  make  such 
sacrifices  I  confess  I  am  unable  to  understand." 

"The  greatest  and  most  heroic  sacrifices  are  recorded 
of  democracies.  Did  not  the  Athenians  leave  their  beau 
tiful  city  to  be  defiled  by  the  Persian  host  rather  than 
surrender  their  freedom.  Did  not  the  Hollanders  inun 
date  some  of  their  fairest  provinces  rather  than  submit 
to  the  Spaniards?  But  we  do  not  propose  such  sacrifices 
to  the  people  anywhere.  The  limitation  of  the  right  of 
marriage  at  any  time  will  only  affect  a  small  minority, 
and  if  the  people  can  be  persuaded  that  the  liberty,  or 
rather  the  license,  permitted  to  that  minority,  is  injurious 
to  all  the  rest,  there  can  be  little  doubt  as  to  how  they 
will  vote.  Each  one  will  doubtless  persuade  himself  that 
he  is  not  to  be  counted  amongst  the  unworthy  minority, 
and  in  most  cases  he  will  be  in  the  right  in  thinking  so. 
The  smallest  spark  of  public  spirit  should  be  sufficient  to 
make  a  man  willing  to  run  an  insignificant  risk  for  the 
sake  of  a  great  public  good.  If  ten  men  were  stranded 
on  a  desert  island  and  the  only  chance  of  deliverance  lay 
in  the  attempt  by  one  of  their  number  to  reach  a  port 
three  hundred  miles  away,  in  an  open  boat  without  a  com 
pass,  none  of  the  ten  might  be  willing  to  undertake  the 
voyage,  and  yet  all  might  be  willing  to  cast  lots  to  de 
cide  who  should  undertake  the  perilous  task,  and  to  abide 
by  the  decision." 

"Then,"  said  my  grandfather,  "it  is  the  selfishness  of 
men  that  you  propose  to  appeal  to,  and  not  any  high 
sense  of  honor  or  public  good." 

"Undoubtedly,"  said  I,  "but  it  is  to  an  enlightened  self- 


294  IONIA. 

ishness.  A  hundred  years  from  now  we  hope  that  the 
benefits  of  a  far-seeing  public  policy  will  be  so  apparent 
to  all  that  higher  motives  may  have  sway  amongst  the 
foremost  nations.  But  to-day  selfishness  is  the  ruling 
principle,  and  we  could  not  expect  it  to  be  otherwise." 

'There,  I  am  sure,  you  are  not  mistaken,  but  to  come 
to  another  point:  do  you  not  think  that  your  friends  in 
Ionia  were  rather  hard  on  their  criminals?  We  are 
treating  ours  in  England  with  more  humanity  than  ever 
before,  and  I  am  told  the  results  are  very  satisfactory. 
Why  not  experiment  on  that  line  a  little  farther  before 
resorting  to  more  cruel  measures?" 

"I  have  no  doubt,"  I  said,  "that  the  most  humane 
treatment  of  criminals  is  the  best  for  them  individually, 
perhaps,  and  it  would  be  wrong  to  inflict  upon  them  the 
smallest  amount  of  unnecessary  suffering.  But  in  my 
opinion  the  case  of  the  whole  body  politic  is  a  desperate 
one,  and  if  we  can  effect  a  cure  by  cutting  off  a  diseased 
member,  it  is  our  manifest  duty  to  do  so.  The  existence 
of  the  criminal  class  is  a  menace  to  the  moral  health  of 
the  people,  just  as  gangrene  or  cancer  is  to  the  living 
body,  and  to  prove  that  this  is  true  in  a  much  larger 
sense  than  is  commonly  supposed,  let  me  read  to  you  a 
paragraph  which  appeared  in  a  prominent  newspaper 
only  the  other  day: 

"  Trofessor  Sellman,  of  the  University  of  Bonn,  Ger 
many,  has  been  making  a  practical  investigation  into  the 
doctrine  of  heredity,  and  furnishes  some  valuable  data 
for  the  study  of  sociology.  Frau  Ada  Jurke,  for  sixty 
years  was  a  resident  of  the  city  of  Cologne,  and  died 
there  about  a  century  ago.  She  was  a  confirmed  profli 
gate,  addicted  to  all  debasing  vices,  and  frequently  con 
victed  of  crime.  She  was  the  mother  of  several  chil 
dren,  and  six  generations  of  her  posterity,  numbering 


CONCLUSION. 

altogether  834  persons,  can  be  traced.  Professor  Sell- 
man  located  and  secured  the  biographies  of  709  members 
of  this  remarkable  family.  One  hundred  and  six  were 
of  illegitimate  birth,  one  hundred  and  sixty-two  were 
professional  beggars,  and  sixty-four  of  them  died  in 
alms-houses.  One  hundred  and  eighty-one  women  lived 
lives  of  open  shame;  seventy-six  were  convicted  and 
imprisoned  for  crime,  and  seven  have  been  executed  for 
murder.  Professor  Sellman  calculates  that  it  has  cost 
the  state  an  average  of  £2,4.00  a  year,  or  a  total  of  £240,- 
ooo  to  care  for  the  paupers  of  this  remarkable  family,  to 
protect  society  against  them,  and  to  punish  their  crimes 
for  a  hundred  years.' 

"Now  this  remarkable  history  finds  a  strange  parallel 
in  a  book  published  twenty  years  ago  by  Mr.  R.  L.  Dug- 
dale,  a  gentleman  connected  with  the  penitentiary 
commission  of  the  State  of  New  York.  It  is  called 
The  Jukes,'  and  gives  a  minute  account  of  several  gen 
erations  of  a  family  so-called.  Their  common  ancestor 
was  a  man  of  idle  and  profligate  life,  who  was  born  about 
the  middle  of  the  last  century.  Seven  hundred  and  nine 
of  his  descendants  have  been  identified,  of  whom  one 
hundred  and  eight  were  paupers,  one  hundred  and  twen 
ty-eight  prostitutes,  and  seventy-six  convicted  criminals, 
including  a  number  of  murderers.  The  writer  estimates 
that  the  total  number  of  this  man's  posterity  must  be 
something  like  twelve  hundred  persons,  and  that  they 
have  cost  the  state  not  less  than  a  million  and  a  quarter 
of  dollars.  He  sums  up  the  net  results  in  these  words: 

"  'Over  a  million  and  a  quarter  dollars  of  loss  in  sev 
enty-five  years,  caused  by  a  single  family,  twelve  hundred 
strong,  without  taking  into  account  the  entailment  of 
pauperism  and  crime  of  the  survivors  in  succeeding  gen 
erations,  and  the  incurable  disease,  idiocy  and  insanity 


296  IONIA. 

growing  out  of  this  debauchery,  and  reaching  further 
than  we  can  calculate.' 

"Now  there  is  not  the  slightest  reason  to  suppose  that 
these  two  cases  are  in  any  way  exceptional;  on  the  con 
trary,  we  are  justified  in  concluding  that  every  criminal 
who  arrives  at  maturity  is  the  source  of  a  stream  of  pol 
lution  which  costs  the  state  vast  sums  of  money,  and 
which  spreads  like  blood  poison  throughout  the  lower 
ranks  of  society.  It  acts  not  merely  as  a  moral  taint, 
although  that  is  undoubtedly  its  worst  feature,  but  on 
account  of  the  disregard  by  these  wretches  of  all  natural 
and  moral  law,  it  fills  our  hospitals  with  the  most  loath 
some  disease,  and  our  asylums  with  the  worst  forms  of 
insanity. 

"The  Ionian  system  would  put  a  stop  to  all  these  hor 
rors  in  the  first  or  second  generation,  and  in  the  light  of 
the  disclosures  made  by  the  American  penitentiary  officer 
and  the  German  professor,  who  shall  dare  to  assert  that 
the  system  is  too  severe  or  that  the  unspeakable  benefits 
which  it  secures  to  the  people  are  purchased  at  too  great 
a  cost?  And  what  is  the  cost?  The  denial  of  existence 
to  swarms  of  creatures  who  are  a  curse  to  themselves 
and  a  disgrace  to  our  common  humanity,  whose  lives 
are  filled  with  misery  and  shame,  and  menace  the  happi 
ness  and  wellbeing  of  all  around  them.  This  of  itself  is 
a  great  gain,  and  the  community  which  can  purge  itself 
of  its  scum  has  made  a  mighty  stride  in  the  direction  of 
true  progress." 

"There  can  be  no  question  about  that,"  said  Mr.  Man- 
son.  "If  London  could  be  freed  from  its  professional 
criminals  there  would  be  but  little  need  for  the  police 
force,  and  the  honest  poor  could  easily  be  dealt  with.  It 
has  been  forced  upon  my  mind  on  many  occasions  that  the 
children  of  criminal  parents  are  not  only  a  danger  to  the 


CONCLUSION.  297 

community,  but  a  plague  to  themselves,  and  I  have  won 
dered  what  could  be  the  purpose  of  the  Almighty  in  cre 
ating  such  swarms  of  foredoomed  souls.  But  now  I  see 
that  the  remedy  is  in  our  own  hands,  and  I  am  satisfied 
that  the  maudlin  sentimentality  which  would  sacrifice 
the  welfare  of  the  people  to  the  tender  feelings  of  crim 
inals  can  hold  no  place  in  the  building  up  of  a  model 
state." 

"You  take  the  right  view  of  the  case,  Mr.  Manson," 
said  I.  "If  the  social  organism  is  to  be  renewed  by  put 
ting  a  stop  to  the  creation  of  unsound  members,  where 
can  we  begin  better  than  with  those  who  sacrifice  their 
rights  by  breaking  its  laws?" 

"I  am  afraid,"  said  Dr.  Wolverton,  "that  the  principle 
of  mercy  is  to  have  but  an  insignificant  place  in  your 
model  state.  I  understand  that  you  would  inflict  capital 
punishment  in  every  case  of  felony  by  old  offenders." 

"When  mercy  would  interfere  with  the  public  weal  it 
must  be  sternly  eliminated,  but  vindictive  cruelty  will 
have  no  place  in  our  system.  Crime  must  be  rooted  out, 
but  it  can  be  done  without  the  infliction  of  agonizing 
pain.  We  do  not  propose  to  hang  men  like  dogs  as  they 
do  in  England  to-day,  or  butcher  them  with  the  guillo 
tine  as  the  French  do.  Capital  punishment  will  be  gently 
and  mercifully  inflicted  by  the  drinking  of  a  cup  of  mild 
poison  in  the  old  Athenian  way,  and  no  harm  done  at  all. 
A  mad  dog  hates  to  be  killed,  but  it  is  better  dead  than 
living,  and  a  determined  criminal  loses  nothing  that  is 
worth  possession  when  his  career  of  wrong-doing  is 
summarily  ended." 

"Well,"  said  the  doctor,  "I  suppose  we  shall  have  to 
surrender  the  criminals  to  your  questionable  mercy,  but 
what  do  you  propose  to  do  about  the  land?  Do  you  ad- 


298  IONIA. 

vocate  the  Ionian  system  of  joint  possession  by  the  peo 
ple?" 

"The  land  question  is,  no  doubt,  a  difficult  one,  but 
when  all  the  people  come  to  stand  on  an  equal  footing  of 
intelligence  and  education,  the  injustice  of  a  small  num 
ber  owning  the  soil  from  which  all  derive  sustenance, 
will  be  universally  acknowledged,  and,  in  some  way,  it 
will  be  remedied  so  that  equal  opportunities  may  be  af 
forded  to  all.  The  change  cannot  be  made  in  a  day, 
but  will  come  in  time;  the  government  must  ultimately 
be  the  universal  landlord." 

"And  what,  then,  will  become  of  our  grand  old  nobil- 
ity?" 

"Your  grand  old  nobility  must  improve  itself  very 
much  to  be  accorded  a  place  in  the  community  at  all. 
The  people  of  the  future  will  have  all,  and  more  than  all 
the  refinement  which  is  claimed  for  the  nobility  of  the 
present  day,  all  their  high  sentiment  of  honor  and  much 
more  than  the  average  of  intelligence  which  they  possess, 
without  the  selfishness  and  vice  which  have  always  been 
so  prevalent  amongst  them.  I  assure  you  that  we  can 
well  spare  your  grand  old  nobility." 

"And  what  about  those  who  amass  large  fortunes  by 
their  skill  in  commerce  and  manufacturing  business — 
do  you  propose  to  confiscate  their  estates  when  they 
die?" 

"The  men  who  contrive,  by  skill  in  manipulating  the 
markets,  or  by  superior  fortune,  or  even  by  what  might 
be  called  good  management  of  business,  to  pile  up  vast 
hoards  of  wealth  out  of  all  proportion  to  their  legitimate 
needs,  are  really  public  plunderers  who  have  no  moral 
right  to  their  enormous  gains,  for  it  can  seldom  be  said 
that  they  render  any  fair  return  for  the  millions  they  ac 
cumulate.  It  is  not  possible,  and,  perhaps,  it  would  not 


CONCLUSION.  299 

be  advantageous  to  set  any  limits  to  what  a  man  may 
acquire  by  his  own  efforts,  but  if  the  public  good  requires 
an  approximately  equal  distribution  of  wealth,  it  is  per 
fectly  legitimate  to  make  the  people  at  large  the  heirs  of 
the  millionaires,  and  to  allow  only  a  moderate  compe 
tence  to  their  children.  The  good  of  the  whole  people, 
and  especially  the  welfare  of  future  generations  shall  be 
the  primary  object  of  government,  and  all  private  con 
siderations  must  give  way  to  that  paramount  considera 
tion." 

"I  see  you  propose  to  reform  society  from  the  root  up 
wards,"  said  my  grandfather,  "and,  although  I  am  too 
old  and  too  conservative  to  appreciate  and  thoroughly 
sympathize  with  your  radical  ideas,  I  am  sure  I  wish  you 
all  success,  and  I  think  your  proposals,  at  least,  worthy 
of  consideration  and  discussion." 

"Our  day  is  nearly  over,  Doctor,"  said  Mr.  Calder- 
wood,  and  we  must  confess  that  it  has  been  to  a  large 
extent  an  evil  one.  We  have  known  many  good  men 
and  good  women  who  have  earnestly  striven  to  benefit 
their  fellow  creatures,  but  their  efforts  have  been  over 
balanced  by  the  greed,  selfishness  and  short-sightedness 
of  those  to  whom  the  greatest  privileges  have  been  given. 
Neither  high  station  nor  wealth  nor  learning  has  accom 
plished  much,  nor,  with  a  few  honorable  exceptions,  has 
attempted  much  for  the  improvement  of  the  condition  of 
the  masses,  and  the  future  is  as  dark  as  the  past  under 
the  old  regime.  But  our  young  friends  propose  to  in 
augurate  an  entirely  different  system,  a  system  which  has 
already  been  tried  with  wonderful  success,  and  I  trust 
their  sanguine  hopes  are  destined  to  glorious  fulfillment. 
Surely  it  is  permitted  us  to  believe  that  a  time  may  come 
when  the  woes  of  the  widow  and  the  orphan,  and  the 
sufferings  of  the  destitute,  may  be  prevented,  and  human 


300  IONIA. 

life  be  as  full  of  joy  and  sunshine  as  it  now  is  of  sorrow 
and  gloom." 

"I  say  amen  to  that  with  all  my  heart/'  said  Dr.  Wol- 
verton. 

"That  such  a  time  will  come,"  said  I,  it  is  impossible  to 
doubt,  when  we  think  of  the  mighty  strides  man  has 
made  in  the  extension  of  his  dominion  over  nature  within 
a  few  decades.  The  difficulties  of  time  and  distance  have 
been  all  but  annihilated;  the  lightning  has  been  har 
nessed  in  man's  service,  and  provides  instantaneous  com 
munication  with  all  parts  of  the  globe;  the  oceans,  which 
were  the  terror  of  our  forefathers  and  the  boundaries  of 
their  world,  are  dominated  by  swiftly-moving  castles  and 
palaces  of  steel;  the  land  is  covered  with  pathways  of 
metal,  over  which,  night  and  day,  continually  fly  caravans 
of  merchandise,  and  splendid  vehicles  in  which  numerous 
travelers  are  sumptuously  lodged  and  fed;  the  creatures 
of  the  earth  have  been  moulded  to  man's  desires,  and  the 
waters  bring  forth  their  increase  at  his  bidding;  floods 
have  been  prevented,  and  the  destructive  havoc  of  whirl 
winds  foretold  by  his  admirable  prescience;  worlds 
mightier  than  his  own  have  been  surveyed  and  measured  ; 
the  great  sun  itself  has  been  weighed  as  in  a  balance,  and 
stars  whose  awful  distance  is  measured  by  years  of  the 
unspeakably  swift  motion  of  light,  have  been  analyzed  as 
if  they  were  present  in  his  laboratory.  Man  has  grasped 
the  universe  with  the  mind  of  a  god,  and  failed  only  in  the 
regulation  of  his  own  species,  in  which  he  has  acted  like 
a  helpless  imbecile.  The  human  race  has  been  allowed  / 
to  spread  like  a  noxious  weed  over  the  earth,  growing 
wherever  it  can  find  nourishment,  and  propagating  itself 
in  uncultivated  hideousness.  This  culpable  recklessness 
must  and  shall  be  changed,  and  the  powers  of  mind  which 
have  enabled  man  to  bend  all  the  forces  of  nature  to  the 


CONCLUSION.  301 

fulfillment  of  his  desires  will  assuredly  prove  sufficient  to 
deal  with  the  maladies  of  his  own  race." 

This  ended  our  conference,  and  my  two  friends  re 
turned  next  morning  to  their  arduous  duties  in  London, 
but  before  they  left,  a  wonderful  piece  of  intelligence 
reached  us.  A  cable  message  in  the  Times  newspaper 
announced  that  a  bill  had  been  introduced  into  the  legis 
lature  of  the  State  of  Ohio  actually  embodying  some  of 
the  most  important  features  of  the  marriage  law  of  Ionia, 
and  thus  proving  that  the  practical  people  of  the  United 
States  have  already  grappled  with  the  great  problem  of 
hereditary  crime  and  disease. 

The  feelings  which  this  glorious  news  inspired  were 
those  of  exultation  and  hope  realized,  for  the  mere  fact 
that  such  a  law  had  been  proposed  appeared  to  us  like 
the  first  ray  of  light  heralding  a  glorious  dawn. 

All  hail  to  you,  Americans!  You  have  been  foremost 
in  many  great  and  good  works.  Follow  up  this  noble 
beginning  of  a  great  reform,  and  you  shall  ere  long  give 
to  the  nations  of  the  earth  the  splendid  spectacle  of  a 
people  with  whom  the  golden  age  of  poets'  dreams  has 
become  a  great  and  enduring  reality. 


THE  END. 


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